Women's rights in Iran

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Iran

The situation of women in Iran is characterized by legal and social discrimination, there is no equal rights for women in Iran and is rejected by the leadership . Human rights groups therefore criticized the election of Iran to the UN Women's Rights Commission (2010 to 2015) by the Economic and Social Council . Iran, along with five other countries, has not signed the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women .

historical development

Iranian society has traditionally been strictly patriarchal . With progressive modernization, however, the social position of women improved until the Islamic revolution . Thus, the Iranian women in the 1960s were under the white revolution , the right to vote (1963), abortions were permitted and reformed divorce law and secularized. Even after the Islamic revolution and the associated legal discrimination, for example, the level of education of women continued to rise.

In view of the high unemployment of men in Iran, individual Islamic scholars criticize the presence of women in the labor market in the 21st century. In addition, the financial independence of women is cited as the cause of the increase in the divorce rate.

In the parliamentary elections on February 26, 2016, there were more than 580 female candidates, twice as many as in the previous election four years earlier. According to media reports, individual politicians use misogynistic comments against their competitors; these are increasingly viewed by the public as unacceptable.

Legal situation

The discrimination against women in Iran is manifold. As a result of the Sharia law applied in Iran, women are severely disadvantaged in almost all areas of law, in violation of human rights treaties that are binding under international law. For example, women are not allowed to exercise various professions, such as judges, and there are disadvantages in terms of witness rights, marriage, divorce and custody. In court, a woman's testimony counts only half as much as a man's, and in some cases female witnesses are not even allowed in court. Even in the so-called “right to retaliate”, the life and health of women are only half as valuable.

In Iran, husbands also have "the right" to the sexual availability of their wives and are also allowed to enforce this with force; Marital rape is therefore not a legal act. General domestic violence by the husband against the wife is also largely permitted. So the man is allowed to beat his wife if he “feared disobedience”. Divorce law is seen as a man's unilateral right. The man can divorce his wife at any time. In principle, the woman also has the opportunity to present reasons for the divorce, but she is obliged to substantiate them. Beatings or sexual violence by the man are generally expressly not grounds for divorce, but documented physical violence that is not tolerable for the woman can be recognized as a reason for divorce. In addition to the burden of proof, the enforcement of a divorce can be difficult for the woman against the background of the lack of equality before the law. " Honor killings " within the family are practically unpunished under Iranian law, in other cases "blood money" is paid. In addition, wives are not allowed to travel without the consent of the husband.

As homosexuality is illegal and punishable in Iran , lesbian women have to keep a low profile.

In Iranian prisons, women are often the victims of sexual harassment and even rape. In some cases, Iranian clergymen concluded “ marriages ” between pasdaran and female prisoners against the will of the women , making rape before execution “legal”. In a 1990 report on the human rights situation in the Islamic Republic, the United Nations Special Representative found that virgins sentenced to death are forcibly married and raped before execution because virgins cannot be executed under Islamic law. Despite confirmation from some senior Iranian politicians, the authorities deny such rapes while in detention.

In addition, there is an obligation to veil and other dress codes for women, compliance with which is strictly controlled and enforced by the customs police . In large cities in particular, however, many women regularly disregard the strict regulations and wear, for example, a scarf loosely wrapped around their heads or a tight coat. There are also regular protests against this moral policy, but these are suppressed. According to observers, the repression against women has increased massively since 2014. Acid attacks are also repeatedly carried out on women who allegedly did not dress correctly.

The Islamic Republic of Iran takes rigorous action against female and male activists of the Iranian women's rights movement . For example, lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh was sentenced to five years' imprisonment for “violating Islamic dress codes” because she did not wear a headscarf in a video message that was not published in Iran.

Again and again, discriminatory bills are introduced and passed. In order to fulfill Ali Khamenei 's slogan of doubling the population, contraception bans and additional disadvantages for childless women in the labor market are being discussed, and existing family planning programs have already been canceled. In 2014, the Supreme Leader banned chatting between unrelated men and women.

Iranian women cannot be given a passport to travel abroad without the consent of their husband or guardian. After the husband of the Paralympic archer Zahra Nemati tried to prevent her from leaving for a sporting competition, a new passport law was passed in May 2017. In 2015, a similar case of soccer player Niloufar Ardalan caused a stir around the world, whose husband tried to thwart her participation in the first Asian futsal championship. According to the new law, instead of the husband, the authorities decide on the departure of women who want to take part in sports competitions, academic and cultural conferences and festivals and who want to go on a pilgrimage to Mecca or who require medical treatment abroad.

While women were banned from access to sports stadiums since the Islamic revolution in 1979, this regulation was relaxed for the first time in 2019, so that in October of that year women were present at a sporting event for the first time in 40 years.

literature

  • Nasrin Bassiri: Women in the Islamic Republic of Iran. In: Edith Laudowicz (ed.): Fatimas Töchter. Women in islam. PapyRossa, Cologne 1992 (= New Small Library. Volume 29), ISBN 3-89438-051-9 , pp. 62–74.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Iran's women - second class people? ( Deutsche Welle , June 12, 2013)
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g h i Iran as guardian of women's rights? A slap in the face of the Iranian women's rights movement. In: igfm .de. Retrieved April 20, 2015 .
  3. ^ Jad Adams: Women and the Vote. A world history. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2014, ISBN 978-0-19-870684-7 , page 437
  4. ↑ Parvin Javadi: Modern, Subject, State: on the role of education in the controversy between the individual and the state in Iran . 1st edition. Schwarz, Berlin 2014, ISBN 978-3-87997-442-9 , pp. 215 f .
  5. ↑ Parvin Javadi: Modern, Subject, State: on the role of education in the controversy between the individual and the state in Iran . 1st edition. Schwarz, Berlin 2014, ISBN 978-3-87997-442-9 , pp. 227-238 .
  6. ↑ Andrea Claudia Hoffmann: Iran, the veiled high culture . Diederichs, Munich 2009, ISBN 978-3-424-35001-2 , pp. 196-201, 212 .
  7. ↑ Men unemployed: Iranian Ayatollah criticizes the women's boom on the labor market. Focus, December 5, 2015, accessed December 5, 2015 .
  8. ↑ Iran: More than 580 women are aiming for a seat in parliament in the Iran election. Zeit online, February 9, 2016, accessed March 11, 2016 .
  9. ^ Scandal in Iran: "Parliament is not a place for donkeys, monkeys and women". Spiegel online, March 11, 2016, accessed March 11, 2016 .
  10. ^ Iran - Amnesty International - Human rights violations against women (MaF). In: amnesty-frauen.de. December 31, 2012, accessed April 20, 2015 .
  11. ↑ Domestic violence against women in the Islamic Republic , Iran Journal, April 19, 2017
  12. ↑ Iranian Human Rights Documentation Center : Gender Inequality and Discrimination: The Case of Iranian Women , iranhrdc.org, accessed on June 6, 2016.
  13. ↑ Iranian Human Rights Documentation Center : Gender Inequality and Discrimination: The Case of Iranian Women : “... conditions that make the continuation of [marital] life intolerable and difficult for the wife; the following circumstances ... shall be considered as a case: ... Wife battery or any kind of mistreatment of the wife that is intolerable in the wife's condition. "
  14. ↑ International Models Project on Women's Rights (IMPOWR): Current Legal Framework: Divorce in Iran (Islamic Republic of) ( Memento of the original from June 6, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. : “... she has the burden of proving that the continuation of the marriage would expose her to 'difficult and pressing conditions.' These can include the husband's ... physical abuse ” @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.impowr.org
  15. ↑ Iran / Women's Rights - Amnesty International Germany. (No longer available online.) In: amnesty.de. Archived from the original on April 27, 2015 ; Retrieved April 20, 2015 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.amnesty.de
  16. ↑ Homosexuality under Punishment The Secret Life of Lesbians in Iran , Der Tagesspiegel, February 5, 2018
  17. ^ Report of the Economic and Social Council: Situation of Human Rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, UN Doc. A / 45/697, p. 27 ( PDF ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.iranhrdc.org
  18. ↑ Separating the wheat from the chaff . In: Der Spiegel . No. 39 , 1986, pp. 94-99 ( online - 22 September 1986 ).
  19. ^ Stoning - a testimony from Iran. In: igfm.de. Retrieved May 3, 2015 .
  20. ↑ Raniah Salloum: Iran without veil: women oppose the headscarf mandatory. In: Spiegel Online . May 10, 2014, accessed April 20, 2015 .
  21. ^ Paul-Anton Krüger: Iran - Thousands protest against acid attacks on women. In: sueddeutsche.de . October 23, 2014, accessed April 25, 2015 .
  22. ↑ a b Stephanie Rupp: Iran's mullahs wage war against women. In: welt.de . October 26, 2014, accessed April 20, 2015 .
  23. ↑ Bianca Blei: Iran's women should lose their right to their bodies. In: derstandard.at . March 12, 2015, accessed May 3, 2015 .
  24. ↑ tagesspiegel.de
  25. ↑ Majlis mulling to ease passport rules for women. In: Tehran Times. July 29, 2017, accessed July 29, 2017 .
  26. ^ Spiegel.de: How Iran's women defy the stadium ban
  27. ↑ Ban lifted after 40 years: 4,000 Iranian women attend soccer game in Tehran . In: Spiegel Online . October 10, 2019 ( spiegel.de [accessed October 10, 2019]).