“The economic participation rate of women in Iran is 12 percent”
The deputy head of the economic affairs office of the Markazi province governor's office said that the economic participation rate of women in this province is between 6 and 7 percent and 12 percent nationwide. According to this official, men are given priority in employment.
The conference "Women, Economy, Employment and Development" was held in Arak by the Center for Business Women of Markazi Province. According to ISNA, the deputy head of the Economic Affairs Office of the Markazi Province Governor's Office stated in the conference that the rate of women's economic participation in the province is low and called for attention to this issue.
Jafari said about women's employment: "Due to unemployment and the lack of employment for the unemployed population, women become disappointed after searching for a suitable job for a while and do not continue this path, and in fact, they exit the cycle of job search."
Regarding the statistics of business card holders in Markazi Province, the official said that 1,200 people in the province have business cards, of which only 109 are women, and of these, only 32 cards are active.
Jafari emphasized that given that half of the country's population is women, the presence of women in the economic and commercial fields should be increased.
In its latest research, published in May of this year, Human Rights Watch described Iran's labor market as a male-dominated market.
The report stated: “Iranian women face a range of restrictions, such as restrictions on travel abroad, prohibitions on employment in certain professions, and a 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 for women in North Africa and the Middle East is 20 percent.
Article 75 of Iran’s Labor Code prohibits women from working in arduous and harmful jobs, but in practice women are barred from many jobs, including real estate brokerage firms. Furthermore, under Iran’s Civil Code, men can prohibit their wives from working in certain jobs for reasons that “contradict family honor.”
Source: DW
