Analysis by PMOI/MEK
Iran, October 3, 2020—Since Iran’s 1979 revolution, which saw the mullahs rise to power, the ruling regime has institutionalized the oppression of women in the constitution and legal fields such as inheritance, testimony, judging, traveling abroad, and so on. This has resulted in the systemic marginalization of half of Iran’s population and the emergence of many social and economic problems across the country.
Many of the minimum rights recognized for women across the world are out of reach for Iranian women, and gender equality is in total contrast to the misogynistic beliefs of the ruling mullahs.
Even so, the regime’s leaders brag about the respecting women’s rights whenever it serves their political interests, and this is because they have never taken responsibility for their words and promises.
In times like elections, women are given the right to vote like men, while in other areas, gender discrimination and oppression are rampant.
Hajar Chenarani, a female member of the Majlis (parliament), recently acknowledged the discrimination against women and said, “We extend our hands to the women’s community to get their votes, we want 50 percent of people to be with us, but when we want to support single mothers, abused and homeless women in the Program and Budget Commission of the parliament, the plan does not get approval.”
Discrimination in employment
Discrimination against women in work and employment opportunities has led to widespread unemployment rates among Iranian women.
Young women constitute a large part of Iran’s university graduates, but government departments and state-owned economic institutions do not employ them while they have proven their ability and competence in their fields of work.
Garbage collecting and waste sorting has become the only daily occupation available to many women in some parts of the country, including the city of Ahwazi, southwest Iran, where women work at the Ahwaz municipal solid waste management.
They are single mothers who come to this place every day from different areas of the city and work hard to make ends meet for their families. And to make matters worse, municipality officials in Ahwaz refuse to pay their salaries on time.
Women work as garbage collectors and sorters in Ahwaz
Repression and violence against women
The policy of compulsory hijab is another aspect of discrimination against Iranian women. Iran’s security forces implemented the compulsory veil in Iran was implemented shortly after 1979 revolution, anyone does not abide by it will face consequences like jail. Mandatory veil is against Islam and is only meant to enchain women, facilitating a general social clampdown. Since the first day, imposing the veil on women was a means of repression and obstructing women’s path, and nothing else.
During its four-decade rule, the regime has intensified violence against women to the point security forces brutally harass young women and girls and drag them on the ground and beat them.
Regarding the hijab, the deputy chief of state security forces announced the implementation of four repressive plans in 2020. “In the Nazer 1 plan, police will deal with women who do not have proper hijab in cars. Nazer 2 will deal with women who do not have proper hijab in malls and stores. Nazer 3 and 4 will include women who do not have hijab on promenades and sidewalks, as well as in cyberspace,” the authority said, according to the state-run Fars News Agency, affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC).
Institutionalized discrimination against Iranian women
The regime’s discrimination against women is so reproachful that some state-run media and regime figures have been forced to feign defense of women to distance themselves from the inhumane treatment. But the truth is that they are all loyal to the constitution of the regime, which denies the most basic rights of women.
In September, the state-run Etemad newspaper, which is affiliated with the so-called reformist faction, wrote an article titled, “The glass ceiling against women,” in which it acknowledged: “The presence of women in critical state positions is faced with obstacles such as subjective interpretation of the term ‘men of politics’ [rajol-e siasiI] by the Guardian Council, and this puts a bitter truth in front of the women of Iran.”
The Guardian Council, whose members are appointed by the supreme leader, is charged with making sure state institutions abide by the Sharia laws of the mullahs.
The Etemad article also pointed out that according to the latest report by the World Economic Forum, Iran is among the ten worse countries in terms of women’s access to equal opportunities in economics, politics, education and health (gender gap rankings) since 2006.
“In terms of the official statistics of women’s access to the criteria mentioned in the [WEF] report, there is no contradiction, because the lack of presence of women in ministries, the Guardian Council, the Expediency council, presidency… is undeniable,” the article added.
It is worth noting that even discussing the presence of Iranian women at the level of ministry, jurisprudence, judiciary, presidency, and others in the Velayat-e-Faqih (the rule of mullahs) is ridiculous, because this regime has deprived women of even more basic rights.
The clerical regime knows no boundaries in oppressing women and does not shy away from oppression wherever it can, but the mullahs have taken a step further and even removed the drawings of girls from the cover of elementary school textbooks.
Girls removed from the cover of elementary school textbooks
This move was met with such outrage and hatred by the Iranian population that the government of regime president Hassan Rouhani was forced to issue an official apology.
This insult to Iranian girls comes at a time when the number of female students admitted to universities is increasing in recent years, and according to Etemad, the number of girls who pass university entrance exams is more than boys.
According to a September 21 report by the Shargh daily, titled, “The marginalization of women”: “It is not easy for Iranian women to enter the economy, and they have never been so vulnerable as they are now. Women make up one-fifth of the working force in Iran. Their share of jobs is less than 20 percent. Many Iranian women choose difficult jobs to support their families, which means they work without a contract or have part-time jobs; Therefore, they do not receive any benefits or insurance premiums. Iranian officials call these jobs ‘unofficial jobs,’ which are outside the scope of Iranian labor law.
“Unemployment rate among women is double that of men. Despite their small share of employment, women are suffering the most from the economic impact of the coronavirus outbreak. The SCI Quarterly Report on Employment in the Spring of 2020 shows that the Iranian women lost 684,773 jobs year over year. While it was reported that Iranian women make up only 20 percent of the employed population, their share of job losses is 45 percent, almost two-and-half times more than their employment rate. It is also worrying that in comparison to men and their families, Iranian women suffer at a growing and disproportionate pace.”
An outdated and fundamentalist ideology
These are just some of the facets of oppression against Iranian women, caused by the outdated ideology of the mullahs’ regime. This ideology represents the ignorance and superstition of mullahs and has absolutely nothing to do with true Islam.
According to this hateful ideology, the regime does not formally accept the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and it institutionalize this discrimination in its constitution in order to keep women at home.
Any acceptance of women in the society would be a nightmare for this ideology and its practitioners, and they repress it under the pretext of protecting moral values.
Based on such a degenerate view of women and their rights, the ruling regime in Iran does not tolerate the slightest demonstrations and protests by women to achieve their rights.
This is at a time when women’s rights to demonstrate for their most basic liberties has been recognized in many countries.
In a world where one of the most important indicators of progress is the treatment of women and giving them their space in the political and social arena, the fundamentalist regime of Iran removes drawings of girls from the elementary textbooks.
This medieval view seeks to implement the same way of thinking in the present century.
But the reality is that Iranian women have never tolerated this oppression in the last 40 years and have always been at the forefront of protesting against discrimination.
Tens of thousands of women have been killed in the struggle against this regime, and there are women who are at the forefront of the Iranian resistance and hold the position of leader.
These brave women want to overthrow this brutal regime and create a better world for Iranian women.
