There is no doubt that the Coronavirus pandemic has had a huge impact on people all over the world, especially in terms of the economy.
Mismanagement and corruption
The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), and the People’s Mujahedin of Iran (PMOI / MEK Iran), reported that the situation in Iran has been exceptionally difficult, in a large part because of the Iranian regime’s mismanagement and terrible handling of the situation since the very beginning.
What makes the situation even worse is that the regime has used this major health crisis as a way of controlling the people, even going as far as to use it as a weapon.
3 million-strong female unemployed
The rate of female unemployment across the country has been especially concerning with recent statistics indicating that over a third of the 3 million-strong female workforce in the country are now unemployed. It appears that women from all sectors of employment, including nurses, are the first to lose their jobs.
In the overall unemployment rates for the country, the women of Iran are the ones that are affected the most. They are the ones that disproportionately lose employment or are forced to reduce their working hours when compared to their male counterparts.
The Coronavirus pandemic has seen a significant portion of the female workforce lose their jobs, with hotel workers, hairdressers, and school and nursery workers being particularly affected.
4 million women in Iran are the main breadwinners
It is estimated that there are approximately 4 million women in Iran that are the main breadwinners. They have not been supported – or even recognized by the government. This leaves many of them in a precarious situation and some children in these families to face being child laborers. Less than a quarter of these 4 million female breadwinners are supported by the welfare organization.
Access to education in Iran has never been equal and female university graduates are also experiencing inequality when it comes to looking for work. Many of the university graduates in Iran are working in jobs irrelevant to their studies and in areas where poverty and unemployment are more prevalent many female university graduates are working as fuel porters and other such jobs. This is the case in the impoverished and neglected border provinces.
Nurses are living on the poverty line
Nurses, especially in the past year, are particularly affected by unemployment. Around 80 percent of nurses in the country are female and many are living on the poverty line.
Their situation is made so much worse by the fact that salaries are often withheld by the government for months at a time.
Many nurses are also not hired on permanent contracts meaning they have minimal job security. Statistics show that half of all nurses are given temporary contracts.
Nurses abandoned and neglected
Even state-run media outlets have reported on the government’s exploitation of nurses. Instead of being given the praise that they deserve for their work during the Coronavirus pandemic, the nurses of Iran have been abandoned and neglected.
The head of the country’s nursing system, Ghazanfar Mirza Beigi, said that a large portion of the nurses that became ill because of the Coronavirus pandemic have been women, with the vast majority of nurse deaths being female too.
MEK Iran (follow them on Twitter and Facebook)
and People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran – MEK IRAN – YouTube
