The Iranian men standing up for their wives' freedom with these posts on Facebook

Iranian husbands are taking to Facebook to declare their support for their wives’ freedom with the tag #itsmensturn, rejecting the clause in traditional marriage contracts which gives men authority over their wives’ movements and employment.

The men are posting on a Facebook page, My Stealthy Freedom, managed by Iranian journalist Masih Alinejad, who told the BBC that many Iranian women don’t actually know that they can ask their husbands to amend the marriage contracts.

“They need to be aware of what they’re signing, and that they can ask for their rights to be returned,” she said.

“I’ll give not only the right to travel but all her rights back to my wife,” this man wrote on his palm, according to My Stealthy Freedom’s translation.

The movement came about after Niloufar Ardalan, the Iranian women’s soccer team’s captain, was barred from traveling overseas by her husband earlier this month. Ardalan had to miss an Asian championship game because her husband would not let her renew her passport.

“This tournament was very important for me and as a Muslim woman I wanted to hold my country’s flag high, I wasn’t going there to have fun,” Ardalan told the Guardian. “I just wanted to fight for my national flag. The national team needs me but I’m not able to join them.”

“Now it’s our turn to give the right to travel back to the women of our homeland. I’m not married yet but the day I get married I absolutely won’t take this right from her,” this man’s card says, according to the translation.

“My relationship with my wife is not copulation in exchange of dowry, it is marriage meaning two free and equal individuals living and working together to build a prosperous life,” this man’s post begins.

Iranian human rights activist Seyed Mohammad Ebrahimi posted this one:

The Facebook page was set up last year and initially served as a place where women posted photos of themselves without their hijabs in defiance of the Iranian law that women must cover their hair in public.