Shahrbanu Amani: Iran has 15,000 widowed girls under the age of 15
According to a member of Tehran City Council, Iran has 15,000 widowed girls under the age of 15. Shahrbanu Amani says that women “trusted” them, but the result was “staying at home.” According to her, laws related to women in Iran have regressed.
Shahrbanu Amani, a member of the Tehran City Council, said during a speech on the topic of “Life Experience Focusing on Legal Obstacles” on Thursday (March 8), coinciding with International Women’s Day, among other things: “We trusted and the result of our trust was that we became housewives. However, they should know that half of the country’s human capital is women, especially educated girls.”
Speaking at the second "National Congress of Successful Iranian Women" at Shahid Beheshti University, Ms. Amani said about the violation of women's rights in Iran: "In many villages, in the past, women's birth certificates were in the pockets of men, who knew for themselves who they should vote for. Of course, the situation has improved a lot now."
Shahrbanu Amani pointed out that "in the past, our women were called weak," but added, "And now, in secret, it's the same."
Women have a small share of the Iranian labor market compared to men. This is despite the fact that over the past decades, Iranian society has witnessed a significant increase in higher education among women. According to the Iranian Statistics Center's 2015 employment report, out of 22 million employed people in that year, only about 3.5 million were women.
Not only are women not at the top of any of the three branches of government, but they are also not even present at the ministerial level in the current Iranian government. The only female minister recorded in the history of the Islamic Republic is still Marzieh Vahid Dastjerdi, the Minister of Health in Ahmadinejad's second government, who was recently removed from her position due to a disagreement with the then president. The presence of women at other management levels in Iran is also not very impressive.
Reversal of the rules
The reformist member of the Tehran City Council also emphasized in another part of his speech today that Iran has regressed in terms of laws related to women, saying: "We have laws in the ninth parliament, including women's departure with their husband's permission, passport issuance, child custody concerns for women, and the marriage of an adopted father with an adopted child. Therefore, I request that we continue on the path we have."
According to the laws of the Islamic Republic, married women cannot leave the country without their husband's permission, passports for them require the permission and consent of their husbands, and the mother has sole custody of the child until the age of 7. On the other hand, Iranian law gives a man the right to marry his adopted child "by court order."
In another part of her speech, Shahbanu Amani also said that there are 15,000 widowed girls under the age of 15 in Iran.
Although child marriage is considered “sexual abuse” by experts and child rights advocates, in Iran, marriage is legal for girls from the age of 13 and boys from the age of 15. Of course, marriage of girls and boys before these ages is also permitted, “with the permission of the guardian and with the court’s determination, subject to the best interests of the child.”
Read more: Iranian civil society awaits the realization of children's rights
The age of marriage in Iran is determined based on "sexual maturity," while experts say that sexual maturity is only part of full maturity. Awareness, education, and freedom of choice are the most basic conditions for starting a family.
The highest rate of child marriage was recorded in Iran in 2014. According to Iranian civil registration statistics, more than 40,000 children entered into marriage before the end of childhood this year.
Official statistics, of course, are limited to marriages registered in official offices, and this number may be much higher than official statistics due to the lack of registration of marriages of children without birth certificates or the lack of official and legal registration of polygamous marriages. Among early marriages, children under the age of 10 are also seen. Statistics show that between 1390 and 1394, between 176 and 220 children under the age of 10 were married in Iran annually.
Source: DW
