As the global communities mark the International Women’s Day, UJI ILIYASU takes a look at how Iranian women in particular have fared so far in that
conservative Islamic country.
The role of women in the society is taken into consideration from different political, legal, social and religious aspects and there are discussions about it. Their role especially in an Islamic society has more warmth and novelty, as investigation reveals.
From the perspective of the Holy Qur’an
The Holy Qur’an, the holy book of Muslims has spoken a lot about the role of women in the family and society and its weaknesses as well.
A careful study of the Holy book shows that the Qur’an considers men and women as equal and has defined common religious duties for them. However, there are differences in Islamic laws between men and women, but these laws have been established in some cases for the benefit of men and in some other cases for the benefit of women. However what has been discussed in general regarding the rights of women and men in Islam is equality and having equal rights.
Islam has not prohibited women from social, political and economic activities in any way. Islamic history is proof that many women have had scientific activities in different fields of theology, jurisprudence, hadith and interpretation.
Iranian women, Islam and society
For instance, women in the Islamic Republic of Iran have a special and high spiritual, cultural and social status and have a very constructive and guiding role in the social, political, cultural and economic fields.
An attempt is therefore being made to give the readers a brief look at the latest position of women’s presence in all fields of Iran.
In the area of environment, climate and crises, in Iran women are in charge of 40% of top executive positions in the environment related organisation.
The country is also paying a monthly pension to 299,120 women affected by the climate crisis in 2021.
It has also set up 20,166 safe shelters for temporary settlement of women in earthquake-stricken areas in 2021.
Iran is also implementing the national plan of promoting and raising cultural awareness of producing and consuming healthy, standardised, and certified products for rural and nomadic women.
Women in the country have also held four terms of Presidency of “Environment Organization” in the nation.
Iranian women are also making their marks in the media. For example, the presence of female directors and actresses as jury presidents at 45 International Film Festivals were felt in the country.
In recent years, there has also been an increase of women participation in Information Technology by 31.5 per cent.
There has also been an active involvement of 903 female filmmakers in the film industry and active presence of 2000 female specialists behind the scenes of cinema.
Female filmmakers in Iran also won 114 national and 128 international awards at various prestigious film festivals.
Furthermore, women in the country have achieved increased access to Information and Communication Technology which is a great improvement.
On women and education in Iran, there has been an increase of over 33.3 percent in female university faculty members.
Women are also making up to 34 percent of faculty members at medical universities. Also, there has been an increase in female students in the university and women making up 56 per cent of state university students in the country.
Gender gaps closing
Women in the country are also closing the gender gap in primary and secondary education in the country which has contributed to overcoming women and girls’ illiteracy with a ratio of 99.3 per cent.
There has also been increased enrolment of high school female pupils by 84 per cent, with an active presence of over 9500 female authors and 840 female publishers.
The country has also witnessed an increase in enrolment of primary school female pupils by 115 per cent. There has also been an increase in the ratio of female to male students by 48 per cent.
In the health sector, the country has introduced the implementation of the Universal Health Coverage Network for all urban inhabitants and 99 per cent of rural people and nomads.
The country has also witnessed female obstetricians performing deliveries in 95 per cent of cases. This is also with the presence of 60 midwives and 28 gynecologists per 100,000 women across the country.
Iran has also witnessed an increase of women’s life expectancy to 78 years and has experienced a reduction of the mortality rate of children under five years of age by 14.2 per 100,000 births.
Also, women make up 98 percent of all gynecological surgeons in the country as 40 percent of all specialist physicians and 30 percent of all subspecialty physicians comprise women.
It is also a thing of great joy that Iranian women rank 10th in the world for the lowest cervical cancer mortality rate.
In sports, women in Iran get access to over 16,111 gym and have won 3302 medals at recent international sporting events.
Female athletes in the country have also earned Olympic and Paralympic quota places and 70 women are serving as heads of sports delegations across provinces.
Furthermore, women possess 97 international seats in sports federations worldwide while 88,366 women work as referees in national and international sporting events.
The country has at present 51 female presidents and vice presidents for different sports federations showing inclusion in sports.
For employment and entrepreneurship, the country has implemented the National Plan of Sustainable Family-Based Business Network to connect job seekers with entrepreneurs and companies.
Also, it has provided over 4200 micro-credit funds with 1200 billion Rials of governmental credit for rural women and has over 2,390 women serving on the boards of directors of knowledge-based companies.
It is also worthy to note that the unemployment rate for women dropped to 13.7 percent and that inclydes Social Security Insurance coverage for housewives.
It also has Social Security Insurance coverage for women-headed households including Social Security Insurance coverage for all rural and nomad women and girls.
The country also has a sustainable business development via implementation of Systematic Strategy Plan for Rural and Nomadic Women. There is also Micro-Businesses based on LNSIE model and has women founding over 250 knowledge-based companies.
At the recent count, there were over 735 women working as managing directors in knowledge-based companies. There have been increased access to natural resources for women via women cooperatives and land allocation to their unionsd, implementing the National Employment Empowerment Plan with a particular focus on rural and nomadic women.
The country has also witnessed an increase of women in authority and decision-making positions, for example, women hold 25.2 per cent of all government positions at all levels, including the highest, middle and basic executive positions.
Also, women are serving as the vice presidents for women and family affairs with over 1000 women working as judges in the country.
There has been an increase in the number of women candidates to enter parliament by 27 per cent in the 11th term, including an increase in the number of women as parliament members by 16.5 times since the first term.
Finally, Iran has also witnessed an increase in women’s participation in the Islamic Consultative Assembly by 5.59 per cent.
