Women’s Economic Participation Rate in Iran is 12 Percent

The deputy head of economic affairs at the Central Province governorate stated that the rate of women’s economic participation in this province is between 6 to 7 percent, and nationwide it is 12 percent. According to this official, men’s employment is prioritized in job creation.

The conference “Women, Economy, Employment and Development” was held by the Women Merchants Association of Central Province in Arak. According to ISNA news agency, the deputy head of economic affairs at the Central Province governorate described the rate of women’s economic participation in this province as low and called for attention to this issue.

Jafari spoke about women’s employment, saying: “Due to unemployment and lack of jobs for the jobless population, women become discouraged after a period of searching for suitable work and stop pursuing this path, and in fact, they exit the cycle of job demand.”

Regarding statistics of commercial card holders in Central Province, this official stated that 1,200 people in this province hold commercial cards, of which only 109 are women, and of this number, only 32 cards are active.

Jafari emphasized that given that half of the country’s population are women, the presence of women in economic and commercial sectors should increase.

Human Rights Watch in its latest research published in May this year (Khordad) described Iran’s labor market as a male-dominated market.

The report stated: “Iranian women face a set of limitations, such as restrictions on traveling abroad, prohibition from working in certain professions, and lack of basic legal protections.”

According to this report, the employment rate of Iranian women in 2016 was close to 15 percent, while the average employment rate of women in North African and Middle Eastern countries is 20 percent.

According to Article 75 of Iran’s Labor Law, women cannot be assigned to difficult and harmful jobs, but in practice, women are excluded from working in many professions, including working in real estate transaction agencies. Beyond this, according to Iran’s civil law, men can prevent their wives from working in certain professions because it is “incompatible with family honor.”

Source: DW