Approval of the Bill to Reduce Working Hours for Women in Parliament

The newspaper Arman reported the approval of the generalities of the bill to reduce working hours for employed women in the Islamic Consultative Assembly on Tuesday. The bill aims to allow women who fall into three categories—heads of households, those with disabled or severely ill children, and those with children under seven years old—to work 36 hours a week instead of 44 hours and to have two additional days of leave. According to reporter Saba Hosseini, if this bill is finally approved, it is not intended to reduce the rights and benefits of these women. However, two main issues are evident in this plan: first, it will only include employees in the public sector, and women working in the private sector are unlikely to benefit from these advantages; and second, according to Mehrodad Lahouti, a member of parliament, there is a possibility that this plan may reduce the willingness of employers to hire women, thereby decreasing job opportunities for them. The newspaper Sharq has a headline about the special envoy to the Kremlin regarding the trip of Ali Akbar Velayati, the international advisor to the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, to Moscow. Zeynab Esmaeili reported that Velayati stated that during this trip, 'the strategic policies of the Supreme Leader regarding the East will be pursued,' but it seems that the most important issue on the agenda of the two countries will be Syria and combating terrorism in the region. Sharq also noted that this trip comes at a time when 'after the Iran-1+5 nuclear agreement and the lifting of sanctions, the doors of the West have opened to Iran, and some believe that Iran will no longer need its neighbors and allies from the sanctions era.' However, 'Turkey and China bear the title of Iran's allies in the post-sanction era more than others, but Russia has always insisted on being a friend during hard years.'