Female Representatives Demand Ali Larijani to Reform Discriminatory Laws

A group of female representatives in the Islamic Consultative Assembly met with Ali Larijani, the Speaker of the Parliament, to demand the reform of discriminatory laws between women and men in Iran. The news agency "House of Nation" reported that this request was made during a meeting on Wednesday, April 5. In this meeting, the female representatives asked the Speaker of the Parliament to support them in reforming discriminatory laws. They also called for "the Speaker's support and gaining the trust of representatives for the presence of a female representative in the Parliament's board to support women in society." The necessity of eliminating non-applicable laws and replacing them with new laws was another demand expressed by the female representatives during this meeting. This meeting took place after a closed session of Parliament, where, according to some reports, discussions were held about the Parliament's priorities for the current year and also major national issues. Members of Parliament and the media have not published further details about the closed session and the meeting of female representatives with Ali Larijani. Protests regarding the status of women and their position in various fields and the discrimination against them in Iranian society have been one of the critical focuses of some female representatives over the past year. In this context, on March 14 of the previous year, Fatemeh Hosseini, a member of the Women's Faction of Parliament, criticized the government for its "indifference" to the managerial position of women, stating that "it was expected that the government would benefit more from the presence of capable and specialized women in managerial fields." Zahra Saei, another member of the Women's Faction of Parliament, also said on March 5 of the previous year that "women have not yet received a participatory share commensurate with their capacities and capabilities." Ms. Saei added: "Currently, 50% of working women are in the informal sector, and women still have not received a share commensurate with their capacities." According to her, "half of educated women have not yet found a job, and only 1% of women are working as employers." Official statistics published by the Statistical Center regarding Iran's labor market show that over the past decade, the economic participation rate of women in the country has decreased, while the unemployment rate among women has increased. This has occurred despite a significant increase in the number of female students and female university graduates, but contrary to expectations, the increase in the number of women with higher education has not led to an increase in the economic participation rate of women. Overall, the share of women in the labor market has decreased, and the gender gap in this market has widened.