TEHRAN - Iran is obliging female civil servants to wear uniforms at work, ISNA news agency reported Wednesday.

The Tehran governor's office head of women's affairs, Azar Nazari, said women would be obliged to wear uniforms from the start of the new Persian year, on March 21.

Nazari told ISNA that the uniforms had been designed following consultation with university professors and according to Iranian religious and cultural criteria. In line with Islamic regulations, women in Iran have to wear long gowns and a scarf to hide body contours and hair.

Dress codes for women in ministries and public organisations are stricter still, and the new initiative further restricting choice of clothing caused dismay.

"The samples I saw are not very different to what we have to wear now, but still forcing me to wear a uniform at the age of 47 makes me feel stupid and reminds me of my school days," said a woman who works in a public office in Tehran.

Another female employee working in a state bank said previous plans to make all women look alike had failed.

"This plan will also fail, as telling women what to wear can simply not work," she said.

Nazari said there were also plans to introduce uniforms for men working in public organisations.