The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) Women’s Committee has given an overview of Iran in response to questions posed to UN Women about the status of women in every region releasing a report to the UN Beijing+25 Forum titled the ’The Plight of Women in Iran’.
This study is based on the reality that Iran’s clerical leadership is inherently misogynistic, with no goal of eliminating discrimination against women or promoting their rights.
The mullahs’ dictatorship will never advocate for women’s rights, let alone empower women and promote their political, economic, and social participation, because of its misogynistic nature. The government is based on male dominance over women and gender discrimination.
If the patriarchy ends and the regime gives women the option to participate, their political system would not continue. Instead, they advance their objectives by restricting and undermining the rights of women under the Islamic banner.
The mullahs began their rule by requiring Iranian women to wear the hijab, which requires women to follow the official dress code if they work in government offices. Female judges were among the first to be fired because the religious regime’s Constitution prohibits women from sitting on the bench, running for president, or leading society.
Women’s access to shops, hospitals, and other public places was gradually restricted if they did not adhere to the mandated Hijab clothing code.
The regime’s abrogation of women’s restricted family rights under the previous rule occurred in the following weeks.
Contrary to #GenerationEquality’s 2030 parity targets, the country’s Islamic leadership is denying Iranian women more and more of their rights.
The regime must first recognize the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women in order to enhance women’s rights in Iran and implement the Beijing Platform for Action (CEDAW).
It should also sign the Istanbul Convention (2011) of the Council of Europe on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, as well as other international accords protecting women’s rights.
Another priority is to revise the Constitution to acknowledge Iranian women’s right to run for office, including president and judge. In all areas, including before the law, the Constitution and all other legislation of the ecclesiastical regime must recognize women as equal human beings with equal worth and rights.
Women must have the right to dress as they like and participate in any social activity they like. All of these are regarded as existential challenges to the mullahs’ power at the moment.
It’s because of the legislation and structural limitations put on women that Iran falls into the lower group of the World Economic Forum ranking for gender gaps.
The Iranian regime’s domestic and foreign policies, as well as corruption, inefficiency, and waste, have reduced a prosperous country with huge human and natural resources to a state where three-quarters of the population lives in extreme poverty. Hardship has had a profound impact on the fate of Iranian women, turning poverty into a feminine face.
This research aims to provide light on the Iranian regime’s behavior 26 years after Beijing and to transmit the voices of Iranian women who have suffered under the mullahs’ authoritarian government. Iranian women have never given up their fight for real rights, and now is the time for the rest of the world to listen to them and support them.
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