Date: Fri Nov 03 2006 - 09:42:54 AST
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Freedom House announces the launch of Gozaar, a new Persian/English online
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Hardliners in Power and the Consequences for Women’s Rights
Lily Pourzand
During the last two centuries, efforts to secure women’s rights
in different countries have been structured, with or without authorities’
permission, as underground or open activities, radical or moderate
movements, on an interrupted or continuous basis according to prevailing
local, political, or social conditions. Iran has not been an exception. The
women’s movement in Iran has never been a unified, universal, or harmonious
process.
Historically, Iranian women have effectively contributed to the
revolutionary, civic, or political movements of their country, especially
during the 1979 revolution. One might have expected the Islamic government
to prize women who had sacrificed their lives, freedom, beloved children,
family, wealth, and other aspirations for the revolution, and reward them
with new positions on the country’s corporate and administrative levels.
That never happened.
After the first few years, one may argue that women’s
participation in the fifth parliamentary election and their attempt to elect
Fa’ezeh Hashemi were their most distinguished ventures in the political
arena of the post-revolutionary period. During the presidential election on
May 22, 1997, women of various social ranks went to the polls to vote for
Seyyed Mohammad Khatami as a reformist president. Khatami received so much
support by women that he was named “the women’s president.”
Women who had cheered for Khatami’s moderate promises were now
watching, after eight years of waiting, the enthroning of the new
conservative government in 2005. The conservative Mahmood Ahmadinezhad was
inaugurated by the spiritual leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran in
August 2005. A year prior to that, the sixth Majlis (Parliament), with its
majority of moderates, had handed over the legislative responsibilities to
the seventh conservative Parliament. Thus, by the summer of 2005, a
political turnover bundled the executive, legislative, and judiciary
branches into one conservative whole. This conventional and unanimous
composite sounded a serious alarm for the issue of women’s rights and
position in Iran. A quick glimpse at the performance of this conservative
government will confirm my point.
Introduction
On June 11, 2006, a group of women decided to announce their
demands for social, legal, and economic equality with men in one of the
major intersections of Tehran in a non-violent gathering. Those who
participated in this gathering were women (and men) of diverse cultural and
social strata.
During the last year, and as a result of the conservatives’
victory, we have repeatedly observed numerous restrictions against women and
violation of their rights. The government and Parliament have followed a new
policy—the policy of “women-versus-women.” The new policy is imposed upon
Iranian women and society by women in power, such as members of Parliament
or women administrators, in legitimate forms. When women follow an
anti-woman agenda, who is to blame or considered responsible?
The peaceful gathering of women on May 11, 2006, was violently
stifled by policewomen who had recently graduated from police academies.
These women, armed with batons and chains, ruthlessly attacked the unarmed
women who, intending to stand up for their violated rights, had filled the
streets.
Women in Iran have strived for years, bit by bit, to gain their
rights. The rise of a conservative government and Parliament, together with
an effort to forcefully restore the old times, presents dangers to these
efforts. It is beyond question that no previous governments have seriously
and fundamentally contributed to the recognition of women’s rights; most of
them have resorted to using women’s issues for the purpose of propaganda.
Understanding the present critical situation and their own dispossessed
status, women, and only women themselves, have risen individually or in
groups to advocate for their own rights. Women’s movements spring from the
heart of society and cannot be subjugated to the state by force. Women’s
movements are undeniable parts of a nation’s historical and inevitable
passage to democracy.
This article is a short introduction to the antifeminist policy
of the conservative government and Parliament, with an emphasis on
clarifying the government’s strategy of using women against women.
Women in the Seventh Majlis
Ttwelve women presently serve in Parliament, one member less
than in the sixth Majlis. Statistically, women are occupying 4 per cent of
the total seats during the present term of Parliament. Five of them have
political connections with a conservative party called Abadgaran-e Iran-e
Eslami (Islamic Cultivators Party). Ten of them are either members or
supported candidates of Zenyab Community, an affiliate of Jamiyate Mo’
talefe-ye Eslami (Islamic Coalition Party).
Board of Administrators
From the very beginning, women Members of Parliament (MPs) did
not show any interest whatsoever in the board of administrators. Before the
end of the sixth Majlis, two women were members of the board. However,
Fatemeh Alia, a member of the seventh Majlis, says, “Women members of Majlis
are not interested in taking part in the board of administrators” . It
seems the women of the seventh Majlis mostly follow the orders of the
conservative party they represent, while the women of the sixth Majlis,
during their four-year performance, showed a totally different face. Ali
Emami Rad, a conservative hardliner in the sixth Majlis, says, “The women of
the sixth Majlis are very active, lively and joyful.” He adds, “Although I
am not fully in accord with them, I cannot ignore their activities” .
Parliament’s Internal Committees
Just as women MPs did not show any enthusiasm for election to
Parliament’s board of administrators, neither did they actively take part in
Parliament’s internal committees. Rather, they chose to be mere observers.
Twelve of the women MPs in the seventh Majlis are active only in five
committees:. Education and Research; Health and Treatment; Cultural;
Judicial; and National Security and Foreign Policy. The degree of
participation of the Women MPs participate in just half the number of
committees of the seventh Majlis as of the sixth Majlis, a fact that proves
their inactive presence.
The Women’s Parliamentary Fraction
a.. Women’s Parliamentary fraction was first created by the
women MPs of the sixth Majlis, originally a coalition act directed to
support women and their rights. Some of the achievements of this
Parliamentary fraction included:
b.. assertion of age of majority for girls
c.. sending female students abroad
d.. defining cases of usr (hardship) and haraj (impediment)
e.. increasing the age of hazanat (custody) of child by mother
to 7 years
f.. increasing the amount of nafaqa (maintenance) during the
period of usr and haraj
None of these laws could compensate for the deficiencies and
shortcomings of the existing laws on Iranian women; however, after many
years, they initiated some positive action inside the restrictions of these
laws.
Women of the seventh Majlis, however, are not too eager to
resume women’s Parliamentary fractions. Immediately after the beginning of
the seventh Majlis, the women’s Parliamentary fraction declared its
existence, However, after the rivalry for the fraction’s leadership
intensified, the women MPs decided that each would act as the fraction’s
leader for a term of three to six months. By October 2005, it was announced
in the media that “women’s fraction of Parliament” had dissolved itself” .
Effat Shari’ati, the leader of the fraction, explained the reason for this
decision: “There is a committee in the Majlis called ‘Women and Family.’ It
is a subcommittee of the Cultural Committee, which follows a number of
objectives similar to those the women’s fraction was preoccupied with. That
is why we do not need the fraction” . Eshrat Shayeq, the deputy leader of
the fraction, added her opinion on the matter: “About eight months ago, the
last official meeting of the fraction was held. This is an inactive fraction
and has no identity.” One must keep in mind that the role of a fraction in
Parliament is political and its objectives and functions are different from
those of Parliamentary committees. These differences are confirmed by the
definitions presented on the official website of the Majlis. Based on these
definitions, the functions of the two inter-Parliamentary institutions are:
Cultural Committee: “The committee is established to function
within the limits of culture, art, guidance and promotion, Seda va Seema
(the state-run radio and television), the mass media, sports and physical
education, youth, women and family.”
Fraction: “Groups of MPs who belong to a party or parties.
Members of such fractions can express different opinions than other MPs
about the functions and applications of Parliament.”
Bill of Equal Share of Beneficiary for Women:
Thanks to the efforts of women MPs, and despite great resistance
from the opposition conservatives, the draft of the bill of equal share of
beneficiary for women was approved by Parliament and sent to the Guardian
Council of the Constitution around the last days of the sixth Majlis. The
draft requested adjustments in certain articles of the civic law on the
share of women beneficiaries. According to this draft, women as
beneficiaries could inherit arseh (land). After the sixth Majlis had ended
its term, the Guardian Council of the Constitution reported its view on the
bill to the seventh Majlis, calling the bill against sharia (religious law).
The judiciary committee of the seventh Majlis accepted the Guardian Council’
s vote without any resistance and rejected the bill. One must not forget the
time and effort the sixth Majlis spent on the draft that was passed.
Speaking about the rejection of the bill of equal share for
women beneficiaries by the judicial committee of the seventh Majlis, Fatemeh
Alia says, “The draft seemed an appropriate law for women to have a share of
land as well; nobody is against the material interest of women. But when we
dig into the matter, we find out that, based on the frequent discourse of
ulama (the clergy), it is unacceptable and we cannot endorse a loose and
general judgment as an exception against the Qur’an’s lucid wording.”
The Draft for the Bill of Clothing and Fashion:
Immediately after the beginning of the seventh Islamic Majlis,
and particularly after the election of Mahmood Ahmadinezhad as president,
the issue of women’s hijab turned into a hot topic among the legislative and
administrative circles. (Hijab has a more extensive meaning than simply the
veil; it also includes scarves and manteaus). Girls and women in Iran who,
due to the compulsory rule of veil, have no personal choice whether to
follow or reject hijab’s religious rule, have tried some novel designs and
colors for their clothes in order to create some diversity within the limits
of compulsory hijab. Even this limited amount of freedom within the closed
circle of repression is beyond the endurance of the fundamentalists. They
insist stubbornly on limiting the diversity of clothing under the pretext of
fighting against the “inobservance of Islamic dress code.” Following the
accession of the fundamentalists to power both in the executive government
and Parliament, a group of fundamentalist women gathered in front of
Parliament in Tehran on April 18, 2006, and requested the MPs to take action
against the problem of the “inobservance of Islamic dress code.”
Mohammd Bahonar, the deputy speaker of the Majlis, attended the
gathering of the women and announced, “Parliament and the government have
seriously decided to revive the passed laws on hijab to salvage them from
neglect.” Mohammad Taqi Rahbar, a member of the Cultural Committee of the
seventh Majlis, said, ‘The clothes sitting in the stores have no roots in
our Islamic and Iranian culture… the disgraceful appearance of some of our
women and girls is an embarrassment to us and we cannot raise our head
around the world.”
The fourth Economic Development Plan and Women’s Share
One of the key achievements of the Centre for Women’s
Participation, which we will discuss in the next section, was the effort to
secure Parliament’s agreement with the inclusion of the articles related to
gender equality in the fourth economic development plan. The first and
second plans did not include a single article about women’s issues. Zahra
Shoja’i, the director of the centre, said, “In the third 5-year plan there
was only one article regarding women, article 158; but in the fourth plan,
there are more than 43 sections, articles, and phrases about women.” In
response to the media’s questions about the future of these 43 sections and
articles in the hands of the new conservative government, she went on to
say: “This is a law passed by Parliament and any government in office has to
implement it.”
This optimistic view did not last long. The fourth economic
plan, passed by the sixth Majlis, was waiting to be approved by the Guardian
Council of the Constitution. The council returned it to Parliament stressing
some articles. The MPs of the sixth Majlis refused to alter the sections the
council had found fault with. The bill was referred to the Expediency
Discernment Council of the System in order to be amended. It was then that
Eshrat Shayeq requested the reconsideration of the bill in the seventh
Majlis. This would have been a novelty in the history of the Majlis: For the
first time, a bill passed by a previous Majlis was going to be considered as
rejected and all its details were to be discussed and revised from scratch.
Eshrat Shayeq’s proposition to revise the bill led to the total omission of
the articles on gender equality and the shrinkage of 90 percent of the
budget of the Centre for Women’s Participation by the seventh Majlis.
The most important loss that Iranian women suffered, due to the
revision of the fourth economic development plan, was the crucial
elimination of the phrase “gender justice” from the bill. “The relevant
organizations and institutions, which had to plan and carry out their work
within a framework based on gender justice, are not obliged to follow this
directive from now on,” says Fariba Davoodi Mohajer, a women’s rights
activist. She has listed in detail the sections regarding gender justice
that were eliminated from the fourth economic development plan. (Appendix
No.1)
The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
Against Women
During the first few months of 2003, the Islamic Republic
accepted the convention on a conditional basis and asked the sixth Majlis
for approval. Thanks to the efforts of the women MPs, it was approved on a
conditional basis in July 2003. The bill endorsing the convention was sent
to the Guardian Council of the Constitution, but the council found it in
conflict with religion and the Constitution, and rejected it. The conflict
between the sixth Majlis and the council once again went to the Expediency
Discernment Council of the System.
With the change of the power structure in both Parliament and
the executive government, Iran’s joining the convention seems unlikely. “As
long as I am alive and the director of this centre,” says Zohreh Tabibzadeh
Noori, the director of the Centre for Women and Family, “I will not allow
our joining to any international conventions or agreements about women’s
rights.”
Nayereh Akhavan Bitaraf, an MP of Isfahan, summarizes the views
of the Majlis on the subject of joining the Convention on the Elimination of
All Forms of Discrimination against Women: “According to the MPs of the
seventh Majlis, joining the convention means passivity. We do not believe
that, by joining the convention, our penal laws will improve. For instance,
there are inconsistencies about women’s rights and children’s rights in the
convention. Islamic laws are superior to all.”
Fatemeh Alia says, “Passing the bill of joining the Convention
on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women is an
evidence of copying the alien laws and culture of the west.” The majority
of the MPs of the seventh Majlis, particularly the women, openly show their
persistent disagreement with joining the convention. State officials, such
as Minister of Justice, have explicitly announced their disagreement with
joining the convention.
Women MPs on Women’s Issues
Polygamy
“The idea of polygamy,” says Fatemeh Alia, “on the question of
having more than one wife, is, ultimately, to the benefit of women, and
women have to do their best to guide it toward its proper course.”
Executing the Street Women
Eshrat Shayeq, an MP from Tabriz, expressed her opinion about
one solution for fighting profanation and obscenity and, in particular,
managing the problem of street women: “We do not have any legal vacuum about
street women; if ten of them are hanged, we will not have any street women
at all” .
Prohibition on Sending Female Students Abroad
The efforts of the women’s fraction in the sixth Majlis ended
the prohibition against sending single girls abroad. Thus, Iranian girls
were able to obtain scholarships to study in the educational institutes
outside Iran. After she began working as an MP in the seventh Majlis,
Fatemeh Alia, in an effort to criticize the achievements of the sixth Majlis
on women’s issues, complained about the removal of the prohibition. “If our
girls go abroad, won’t they create more problems later on? Not to mention
that those, who have gone abroad for some years, have already created these
problems. We then have to pay the damaging costs of this act, both in terms
of honor and culturally.”
The Conservative Government and Women’s Issues
The Center for Women’s Participation and Its End
During the presidency of Mohammad Khatami, one of the measures
taken on behalf of women on the governmental level was the establishment of
the Centre for Women’s Participation, under the management of Zahra Shoja’i.
This marked the first time a centre was identified to advocate for women’s
issues within the structure of the government since the revolution. Although
the policy of the centre was always of a moderate nature, its positive role
cannot be denied.
Only a few months after the presidency of Ahmadinezhad, the
seventh Majlis eliminated the specified budget that had been approved with
the aim of increasing and developing the social and cultural participation
of women in various dimensions,. The planning and budget committee of the
government declared that the budget assigned to women had not been
eliminated in the new plan, but was directed to other fields. Through the
committee’s explanations, one can surmise that, in the new plan, the budgets
assigned to education and other issues concerning women are eliminated in
order to channel them to religious establishments for women. (Appendix
Number 2)
A few months after the release of this news, the Centre for
Women’s Participation began its activities under the new name, the Centre
for Women and Family, with a different management, structure, and nature.
Zohreh Tabibzadeh Noori, the manager for the new centre, explained the
reason for name change, “A woman outside home,” she said, “has a social
identity. But the best identity is the identity formed at home, where her
presence gives comfort and ease to the family members.” One can clearly
understand the directions of the new government’s policy as to the issues
related to women. The omission of the word participation, which has
sociopolitical weight and application, from the title and the emphasis on
family, which in a tradition-based society such as Iran has always been used
to deprive women of their serious social, political, and cultural
participation, proves the point.
Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance
With the new cabinet in office, and the prominence of its
fundamentalist leanings, Saffar Harandi, who has been appointed as Minister
of Culture and Islamic Guidance, ordered the reduction of women’s work hours
in the ministry. “Taking note of the sensitive role of women in our country
and the necessity of their effective presence in the warm embrace of their
family to perform the sensitive task of raising their children,” the
announcement noted, “it is essential, according to the order of the revered
minister, to prevent the presence of female colleagues in all units and
offices after 6:00 p.m.”
The staffs of all government news agencies and news centers are
considered as the staff of the ministry. “Women’s hours of work should be
enough to allow them to take care of their homes,” sayid Fatemeh Alia about
the memo. “We can’t say the family bonds should be according to Islamic
views and the hours of work according to western standards; that is
contradiction in terms.”
Ministry of Justice
In an effort to clarify some issues about women’s rights, Jamal
Karimi, the conservative government’s Minister of Justice, has written a
series of articles. In these texts he has attempted to justify the
sociolegal discriminations against women. He clings to the theory that
equality is different from similarity, and difference does not mean
discrimination. In this way he tries to prove the fairness of the existing
laws concerning women. “If women had the body, soul, and manners of men,” he
argues, “they could not use the service of men. And if men had the same
physical and psychological qualities, it would be impossible for women to
regard them as the idols of their lives… The humane and innate rights of
women and men require them to be dissimilar in certain rights; and what we
have in the law is difference and not discrimination.” Karimi, after
condemning liberalistic and feministic ideas, concludes, “The researches of
recent decades prove that the root of all the tragedies and sufferings of
women lies in words similar to equality.” ..
The Last Word
A brief overview of the one-year performance of the conservative
government of Mahmood Ahmadinezhad and the two-year functioning of Iran’s
Parliament with a fundamentalist majority clearly shows their platforms,
beliefs, and plans in relation to the issues of importance to women. In this
respect, it seems the fundamentalist government and Parliament, in an
unpronounced but unanimous effort, are trying to suppress any possible
movement to revive women’s rights and ensure their well-being. The presence
of conservative women in the Majlis as Members of Parliament and their
conventional and reactionary views on women have prepared the road for
statesmen to violate women’s rights under religious and legal excuses. Women
who, by their own words and deeds, reject approved budgets for educating
women, close down the women’s Parliamentary fraction, recommend hanging the
members of their own gender, and those women equipped with batons and
handcuffs who beat the members of their own gender for demanding their
rights and then throw them in jail—these women play a destructive role as
they undermine the efforts of those individuals, institutions, and
nongovernmental organizations that fight for women’s trampled rights in this
time in the history of Iran.
Women-versus-women is a new policy of the new government, a
policy that seems to be well-organized, purposeful, and carefully
orchestrated. For a country like Iran, that is miles away from even minimal
gender equality, this retreat in the field of women’s issues is a painful
and irreparable tragedy. A Parliament whose women MPs openly violate women’s
rights and consider the revival of the rights of their own gender as
unnecessary and even as heresy; a government whose ministers, in an official
memo, recommend that women to stick to housekeeping and sit in closets; a
police force that equips female bullies with batons and uniforms so that
they can batter and imprison right-seeking women; combine to increase the
repression of nonviolent movements of women who demand their equal rights in
Iran at this critical moment. Although none of the previous governments have
seriously and fundamentally paid attention to the legal, social, and
political rights of women, they have occasionally, by injecting some
relative social freedom, helped organizations advocating women’s rights grow
in the society. Women who, in the quest for their rights, have met with
prison, trial, and terror, are irrepressible. More pressure, sanction, and
oppression will eventually force open passionate movements into slow
underground activities. But women are waiting for a glimpse of hope and a
small window to come out with their demands again. The process of women’s
movements can be hindered, but it will not be stopped.
Appendix 1- Quoted from Nameh vol.32
-housing for women who support a family. (chapter1, article 62,
section C, no. 7)
-equal educational opportunities and improving student coverage.
(chapter 4, article 92, section C)
-equal education opportunities and improving education’s quality
and attaining equal opportunities, especially for girls, and providing
suitable possibilities to reduce educational adversity and develop education
and the materialization of education for all, particularly for girls.
(chapter 4, article 97, sections A and B).
-suitable education environments and anticipation of necessary
facilities and possibility of renovation; strengthening, standardizing and
making the educational environment suitable, particularly the schools for
girls (chapter 4, article 96, section L).
-instructional courses during work, improving career skills for
women, particularly through short courses. (chapter 4, article 102, section
A, no. 1).
-comprehensive plan for women’s rehabilitation, supporting women
’s rights, gender equality on legal, social, economical and administrative
levels in related administrative centers (chapter 8, article 155, section
5).
-essential employment rights, such as the freedom of
establishing associations, supporting the right of establishing civic
societies of work-oriented relations, the right to organize and the right to
group negotiations, equal pay for men and women for the same job, prevention
of work-related discriminations. (chapter 8, article 158, section A)
-essential employment rights, expansion of social support and
equal opportunities for men and women, rehabilitation of women by providing
them with access to proper employment opportunities. (chapter 8, article
158, section C)
-increasing cooperative sections and rehabilitation of youth,
graduates… (chapter 8, article 158, section A)
Appendix 2: Quoted from the site of The Unity of Iran’s
Republicans-February 2005
The members of the Cultural Committee have reduced 1200 billion
rials [every American dollar is approximately 9,000 rials] from the budget
specified for the Centre for Women’s Participation and have assigned that
budget to women’s religious organizations. In another proposal, 3900 million
rials were also cut from the budget of this centre and channeled to the
budget for women’s religious seminaries. At the same time, another 1 billion
tomans [every American dollar is approximately 900 tomans] from the budget
of the Centre for Women’s Participation was transferred to the Seda va Sima’
s budget.
Appendix 3: The site of Iranian Women-the Fall of 2005
“Taking note of the sensitive role of women in our country and
the necessity of their effective presence in the warm embrace of their
family to perform the sensitive task of raising their children, it is
essential, according to the order of the revered minister, to prevent the
presence of female colleagues in all units and offices after 6:00 p.m.”
1 Shargh Newspaper, Vol. 1 No. 210, Wed June 20, 2004
2 BBC Persian, Sunday May 23, 2004
3 www.roshangari.net Oct 8, 2005
4 www.roozonline.com Sept 26, 2005
5 See No.3
6 http://mellat.majlis.ir glossary of parliamentary terms
7 see No.6
8 Hoora, No. 16, Women In The Eyes of the Seventh Majlis
9 http://mellat.majlis.ir Wed April 19, 2006
10 E’temad-e Melli, April 12, 2006
11Gooya website, Aug 24, 2005 quoting BBC Persian
12 see No.11
13Nameh, vol. 32
14 Aftab website: www.aftabnews.ir May 29, 2006
15 www.roozonline.com Oct. 25, 2006
16 see No. 8
17 Women magazine, June 2004
18 www.iftribune.com Iranian feminist tribune, Nov 21, 2004
19 see No.8
20 see No.15
21 see No.8
22 Shargh newspaper, Vol. 3 No.808, July 15, 2006
24 see No.24
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