I made a comment about 2 weeks ago linking to some answers on the sub about this topic, but for some reason it has disappeared from my user history (should still be there even if the thread was deleted so not a clue why I can't see it).

I'll just find them again for you :)

I've seen those pictures of women wearing mini-skirts as i'm sure many of us have, but this gives a very nuanced view of what it was really like in Iran. Many people (including me when I first saw it) would look at these pictures and (naturally) automatically assume that this was the reality for much of the population. This is simply not true, the reality was that all those pictures you and I have seen are of the middle and upper echelons of society in urban centres such as Tehran and Isfahan. Much of the population, in Urban and particularly Rural areas would have been much more Conservative in how they dressed.We can't look at wealthy classes and see them as representative of the population, i'm sure you've heard of plenty of Arab princes flaunting their countries laws when it comes to how they behave both abroad and at home with the laws being enforced only on the general population.

You're also over-estimating just how free Iran was before the revolution, it certainly was not democratic. The ruling Shah had been installed because of an invasion by Soviet and British troops when the Shah's father was deposed. The ruling Shah was deposed and fled the country and a democratically elected Prime minister installed. This didn't last long though, the prime minister wanted to carry out an audit of the British contolled oil companies in Iran which were the case of much economical hardship (not to mention the blockade of Iran that was taking place), the British denied an audit and the result was that Iran nationalized the oil inudstry. This then resulted in the Americans carrying out a coup to reinstate the exiled Shah who was in Italy and placing him back on the throne. All this being propped up by foreign powers, as well as Western control of Iranian resources did not sit well with much of the population. Even the upper classes were exasperated because of the lack of freedoms.

It is true that the Shah tried to carry out reforms to widen his support amongst the peasent and working classes, but these reforms did not have the desired consequence. The White revolution was intended to reduce the power of the landlords as well as increase the base of support amongst the Peasents. The actual result was an increase of 3-4 times in the size of the Academic classes (such as teachers and writers) as well as the Urban working class who were both the cause of much political instability for the Shah through their support of democratic/communist/Islamic (with some being a fusion) parties.Even the Peasent classes largely supported the clergy who were seen as being much more in touch with their needs. According to a 1974-75 Amnesty International report, the prisons of Iran held 25,000-100,000 political prisoners of the Shah. The SAVAK secret police were not looked upon sympathetically, not least because they were established with the help of the American CIA and the Israeli Mossad. Much of the oil wealth generated by the British-controlled comapnies only served to enrich elites in the cities, increasing animosity between lower classes when the intended trickle down effects failed to occur.

I'll let some other answers take over to expand on the above, hopefully someone else will be able to answer what the process for implementing the law was...

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u/namesrhardtothinkof talks about the reasons for the revolution in this answer

This answer talks about the groups that made up the revolution, by u/Mobysdickk

Just how progressive Iran was is tallked about here by u/khowaga, also talks about how Iran changed after the revolution which is very useful

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This will also be very useful in disproving how "free" Iran was:

https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/204000/mde130011976en.pdf