By Majid Kamrani
The role of women in the society is taken into consideration from different political, legal, social and religious aspects and there are discussions about it. Especially this role in an Islamic society has more warmth and novelty. The Holy Qur’an, this holy book of Muslims, has spoken a lot about the role of women in the family and society and its weaknesses. The Holy Qur’an considers men and women as equal and has defined common religious duties for them. However, there are differences in Islamic laws and laws between men and women. But these laws have been established in some cases for the benefit of men and in some other cases for the benefit of women. But what has been discussed in general regarding the rights of women and men in Islam is equality and having equal rights. However, Islam has not prohibited women from social, political and economic activities in any way. Islamic history is proof that many women have had scientific activities in different fields of theology, jurisprudence, hadith and interpretation. Women in the Islamic Republic of Iran have a special and high spiritual, cultural and social status and have a very constructive and guiding role in the social, political, cultural and economic fields.
In this article, an attempt is made to give the readers a brief look at the latest position of women’s presence in all fields of Iran.
Women, Environment, Climate and Crises
•Women in charge of 40 per cent of top executive positions in the Environment Organization
•Paying monthly pension to 299, 120 women affected by climate crisis in 2021
•Setting up 20, 166 safe shelters for temporary settlement of women in earthquake-stricken areas in 2021
•Implementing the national plan of “promoting and raising cultural awareness of producing and consuming healthy, standardized, and certified products” for rural and nomadic women
•Holding four terms of presidency of “Environment Organization” by women
Women and Media
•The presence of female directors and actresses as jury presidents at 45 international film festivals
•Increased women’s participation in information technology by 31.5 per cent
•Active involvement of 903 female filmmakers in film industry
•Active presence of 2000 female specialists behind the scenes of cinema
•Winning 114 national and 128 international awards at prestigious festivals by female filmmakers
•Increased access to information and communication technology for women
Women and Education
•Increase of over 33.3 per cent in female university faculty members
•Women making up 34 per cent of faculty members at medical universities
•Women making up 56 per cent of state university students in the country
•Closing the gender gap in primary and secondary education in the country
•Overcoming women and girls’ illiteracy with a ratio of 99.3 per cent
•Increased enrollment of high school female pupils by 84 per cent
•Active presence of over 9, 500 female authors and 840 female publishers
•Increased enrollment of primary school female pupils by 115 per cent
•Increased ratio of female to male students by 48 per cent
Women and Health
•Implementation of the Universal Health Coverage Network for all urban inhabitants and 99 per cent of rural people and nomads
•Performing of deliveries by female obstetricians in 95 per cent of cases
•Presence of 60 midwives and 2.8 gynecologists per 100,000 women across the country
•Increse of women’s life expectancy to 78 years
•Reduced mortality rate of children under five years of age by 14.2 per 100,000 births
•Women making up 98 per cent of all gynecological surgeons in the country
•Women making up 40 per cent of all specialist physicians and 30 per cent of all subspecialty physicians
•Iranian women ranking 10th in the world for the lowest cervical cancer mortality rate
Women and Sports
•Women get access to over 16, 111 gyms.
•Women have won 3, 302 medals at recent international sporting events.
•Female athletes have earned Olympic and Paralympic quota places.
•70 women are serving as heads of sports delegations across provinces.
•Women possess 97 international seats in sports federations worldwide.
•88, 366 women work as referees in national and international sporting events.
•There are 51 female presidents and Vice presidents for different sports federations
Women, Employment and Entrepreneurship
•Implementing the “National Plan of Sustainable Family-Based Business Network” to connect job seekers with entrepreneurs and companies
•Provision of over 4, 200 micro-credit funds with 1, 200 billion Rials of governmental credit for rural women
•Over 2, 390 women serving on the boards of directors of knowledge-based companies
•The unemployment rate for women dropping to 13.7 per cent
•Social Security Insurance coverage for housewives
•Social Security Insurance coverage for women-headed households
•Social Security Insurance coverage for all rural and nomad women and girls
•Sustainable business development via implementation of Systematic Strategy Plan for Rural and Nomadic Women Micro-Businesses based on LNSIE model
•Women founding over 250 knowledge-based companies
•Over 735 women working as managing directors in knowledge-based companies
•Increased access to natural resources for women via women cooperatives and land allocation to their unions
•Implementing the National Employment Empowerment Plan with a particular focus on rural and nomadic women
Women in Authority and Decision-Making Positions
•Women holding 25.2 per cent of all government positions at all levels, including the highest, middle, and basic executive positions
•Women serving as the vice presidents for women and family affairs
•Over 1000 women working as judges in the country
•Increase in the number of women candidates to enter parliament by 227 per cent in the 11th term
•Increase in the number of women as parliament members by 16.5 times since the first term
•Increase in women’s participation in the Islamic Consultative Assembly by 5.59 per cent.
• Majid Kamrani is Cultural Consular of Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Nigeria