Better Jobs and Key Positions; 'All for Men'

The Open Data Iran database is an innovation project aimed at collecting data related to Iran in one place and presenting it in easily accessible formats. Radio Farda, in collaboration with this institution, publishes a series of articles, the first of which is titled 'What Do Iranians Die From?'. Another article discusses the causes of mortality in Tehran, other provinces of Iran, and gender disparities in student employment. The fifth article is as follows: For many Iranians, it is hard to imagine a woman as the manager of a large company or an important institution. This public perception that key jobs should be held by men is also reflected in Iranian films and series produced by the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting, where the presence of a woman at the head of an organization presents a different and unconventional image compared to the prevailing labor market. Official statistics largely confirm this public belief. If we take the report 'Results of the Labor Force Survey' from 1393 (2014) published by the Statistical Center as a basis, and examine the distribution of the employed population based on employment status, significant points regarding the inequality between women and men in the labor market emerge. As shown in Chart 1, four percent of employed men in Iran are employers, while among employed women, only one percent are in managerial positions. Additionally, over 37 percent of employed men are classified as 'self-employed', meaning their businesses belong to them, whereas this rate for employed women is 22 percent. For example, a male shopkeeper or a female seamstress, if not receiving a salary from another individual and working for themselves, is considered self-employed. As Chart 1 shows, 40 percent of employed men work in the private sector, while nearly 29 percent of employed women are also considered private sector employees. In other words, the highest share of employment status for both men and women is in the private sector, with the difference that women in Iran typically hold office and administrative jobs that have lower salary levels, while high-paying and managerial jobs are reserved for men. In other words, women's presence in middle management is minimal, and in the private sector, most jobs allocated to women are low-level positions. Chart 1 also indicates that a large number of employed women are considered public sector employees and are government and state institution employees. The most employed public sector in Iran is the Ministry of Education, and the high number of female teachers has resulted in a significant share of public sector employment among women, exceeding 27 percent. Among government employees and other state institutions, teachers have one of the lowest salary levels, and consequently, the numerous female teachers in Iran fall into the category of individuals with average to low income. To clarify the importance of the number of female teachers, we can refer to the statement of Ali Asghar Fani, the Minister of Education, in the 79th public session of the Islamic City Council of Tehran's fourth term, where he stated that 80 percent of teachers in Tehran are women. However, the most surprising point shown in Chart 1 is the high share of women who work for their relatives for free but are considered employed in official statistics. Approximately 19.5 percent of all employed women are statistically classified as 'unpaid family workers', while this ratio for men is 2.5 percent. It is not surprising that in key jobs, such as those officially categorized as 'legislators, high-ranking officials, and managers', which include high-level positions in both the private and public sectors, the share of women is low. In Chart 2, we see that in the category of 'legislators, high-ranking officials, and managers', out of 615,000 jobs, the share of women is 18 percent, and the share of men is about 82 percent. Therefore, the labor market for women has reached a condition where nearly one-fifth of employed women do not receive wages, and more than one-fourth of employed women are public sector employees, most of whom are teachers and do not have an adequate income level. Among key and high-ranking jobs, the share of women is also 18 percent. If we add to this the high number of women who hold office and administrative jobs and typically have low incomes, the question arises as to where educated women, whose number exceeds 5 million according to data from the Statistical Center of Iran, fit into the labor market. Out of the population of 5 million university-educated women, only 3 million are employed, and this data, which reveals such gender inequality, calls into question labor market policies.