A Newspaper Report on the Survey 'Values and Attitudes of Iranians': Decreased Willingness for Childbearing Among Housewife Women

A Tehran-based newspaper reported on the results of the survey 'Fourth Wave of the National Survey of Values and Attitudes of Iranians,' conducted late last year by the National Research Institute for Culture, Art, and Communication of Iran. It noted that the willingness for childbearing among housewives has decreased, and more than half of the survey participants support premarital relationships between boys and girls. The Ham-Mihan newspaper, in its issue on Wednesday, May 16, stated that some results of this survey indicate a change in public attitudes towards issues related to male and female relationships, while stereotypical views about the traditional roles of men and women are still evident in respondents' answers. The newspaper specifically refers to the emphasis by survey participants that men should be the primary decision-makers in families regarding important economic matters or that women's homemaking contributes to maintaining the family unit. The report mentioned that several questions specifically regarding women and their status indicate that societal views on women's stereotypical roles, including homemaking, equal inheritance rights for women and men, and women's right to divorce like men, are changing. Shahla Kazemi-Pour, a demographer, told Ham-Mihan that a significant portion of the survey results indicates that the slope of socio-cultural changes in Iran is upward, but changing attitudes is more difficult. This demographer emphasized that issues such as the majority of respondents supporting the removal of legal discrimination against women stem from social and cultural changes occurring in society, not from changes in attitudes. According to Kazemi-Pour, attitudes change over time; modernity and other factors influence people's behaviors, and this is also true in Iran. The Ham-Mihan report emphasized that social media, education, women's employment, and other factors have led to social changes in Iran. As stated in the report, the survey results show a decrease in the willingness to have children, with even housewives unwilling to have more than two children. Various questions were asked in this survey, including 'Who do you consider suitable for marriage?' where 75.8% of respondents believe that marriage is suitable with someone of equal educational level. Regarding hijab, 61% of men believe that marriage with hijab-wearing individuals is appropriate. Accordingly, 51.2% of single men and 67.6% of married men agreed with the option of women being hijab-wearing. Men from South Khorasan province gave the highest positive response to women's hijab, at 80.4%. The assessment of interactions and friendships between girls and boys before marriage shows that 34.7% of respondents oppose such interactions, 12.1% are neither opposed nor supportive, and 53.3% of respondents are supportive or fully supportive of interactions and friendships between girls and boys before marriage. The survey results regarding whether 'women should have the right to divorce like men' indicate that 68.3% of respondents agreed or fully agreed that women should have the right to divorce like men, while 23.2% were completely opposed to this issue. The survey also asked respondents what they consider the most suitable age for girls to marry, with 45.5% indicating ages 21 to 25, 38.9% ages 16 to 20, 11% ages 26 to 30, and 3% considering 36 years and older as suitable for girls' marriage. These survey results come at a time when the Iranian government is seeking to promote marriage and increase childbearing while trying to control relationships between boys and girls. However, societal attitudes reflect fundamental differences in public opinion compared to the 'demands' of Ali Khamenei, the leader of the Islamic Republic. In support of this, the director of the Youth Social Planning and Development Office stated in September 2023 that 'what is concerning in today's Iranian society is not the decrease in the age of marriage but rather the main issue is the increase in the age of marriage.' Mehdi Motaghi-Far emphasized that as the age of marriage increases, childbearing is delayed, and unfortunately, permanent celibacy occurs. According to this official, the statistics of girls who have reached permanent celibacy are high, and this issue has social consequences, and the aging of these individuals will be difficult and will have its own specific issues. In recent years, the Islamic Republic has pursued a policy of encouraging 'childbearing' and increasing the population more vigorously, and Ali Khamenei's emphasis on this has caused all institutions, including the health and treatment network, to change their policies to achieve this directive. Despite the actions and emphases made, economic problems and the difficulty of making a living in Iran have hindered the formation of shared lives and 'childbearing.' The Deputy Minister of Energy stated: 'We feel a duty; we reward childbearing with up to 18 million tomans.' The dangers of the prohibitions created and the government's insistence on childbearing for the people, from the perspective of Narges Shir-Aghaei, highlight the deprivation of Iranian women from basic human rights; human rights organizations have warned about the 'violation of reproductive rights' in Iran. Despite President Raisi's 'directive,' 149,000 people are still waiting for marriage loans. A member of parliament stated that the Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade does not provide cars to mothers, indicating another failure of childbearing plans. A social science researcher noted that 'more than a quarter' of Iranian adolescents begin their sexual relationships from the age of 15. The growth of the population in Iran has approached zero due to the decline in the quality of life. The wheel of the population growth policy is stuck; the emphasis on 'childbearing' is overshadowed by the '5 million toman pacifier.'