International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women; Continued Violence in Iran

While the United Nations has declared two weeks dedicated to the elimination of violence against women worldwide, violence against women in Iran continues unabated. Despite no news on the results of investigations into acid attacks in Isfahan, the state news agency IRNA reported that in recent days, knife attacks on six women in Jahrom occurred, five of whom are said to be students. Hajjatollah Rezaei, the special commander in Jahrom, without providing details about the assailant's motive, stated that this individual was arrested in less than 72 hours. Simultaneously, Shahrvand News reported that the number of victims from these attacks is 11, and the assailant is identified as a member of the Basij. Previously, unconfirmed reports had emerged about an attack with a sharp object on more than five women in one of the suburbs of Isfahan. While public violence against women continues in the streets of Iran, Fatemeh Alia, a member of the Women’s Faction in the Islamic Consultative Assembly, did not consider preventing a man from allowing a woman to leave the house as a form of violence, stating in an interview with the news agency 'House of the Nation' that this issue is among Western indicators of violence against women. Earlier, a study on violence against women in 28 provinces of Iran was mentioned in the program 'Another Voice.' Now, the Vice President for Women's Affairs has announced that 32 books containing the results of that research have gone missing. Shahindokht Molaverdi told the Etemad newspaper that with the end of the eighth government, these reports were shelved, and by the end of the ninth and tenth governments, no copies of the 32-volume report were found in either the Ministry of Interior or the Center for Women's Affairs. Meanwhile, in Turkey, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan stated on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women: 'Men and women are not equal. Such a thing is against nature. They are created differently. Their nature is different. Can you equate a woman breastfeeding a child with a man who cannot do this?' These remarks by Erdoğan were made at an international conference in Turkey ahead of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. Erdoğan said sometimes it is claimed that men and women are equal. However, equality among women and equality among men is a more accurate description. Mehrdad Darvishpour, a sociologist residing in Sweden, commented on Erdoğan's statements: 'The Islamic Party is in power, and its leader, who is also the president, officially declares that women are not equal to men at all and attacks feminists, which can only create very serious concerns in society. As we saw, women in Turkey expressed serious concerns about this view and warned that the most direct consequence of this would be the increase of violence against women and the further legitimization of violence against women.' Meysam Badamchi, a political philosophy researcher residing in Turkey, noted that Erdoğan's supporters view these remarks from a different perspective: 'Mr. Erdoğan makes a distinction that in Iran, those familiar with Mr. Motahari's views have often heard. He distinguishes between equality and sameness. He says that men and women are equal but not the same. However, the way he uses these words and the interpretation of what this means has created a lot of uproar.' He adds: 'Mr. Erdoğan says men and women are eşdeğer (equivalent). Eşdeğer can also mean equality in rights. But he says they are not the same. Women are created for specific tasks, such as child-rearing, breastfeeding, and caring for children, which are primarily domestic tasks. Men are created for other tasks. He provided some examples. He attacked feminists and the trend in communist countries that wanted women to work in mines.' This is not Erdoğan's first statement about women. In 2012, when he held the position of Prime Minister of Turkey, he described abortion as equivalent to murder and spoke against cesarean deliveries. He also called for women to have at least three children and supported early marriage for women. Following that, Erdoğan removed the ban on the use of hijabs for women in public jobs and universities. Meysam Badamchi views Erdoğan's actions as promoting the status of religious women in Turkey, stating: 'Mr. Erdoğan has created a situation where no part of Turkish society, which is a very important part, perhaps fifty percent of Turkish society, that was previously excluded and sidelined from politics and public life, can now come and enter, work in the government, and take jobs in various places. This naturally makes religious people in Turkey more familiar with the modern world, which includes a democratic aspect.' Nevertheless, Turkish feminists protested Erdoğan's statements and shouted slogans against him during the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. Turkish feminists believe that such statements lead to an increase in violence against women in Turkey. According to published statistics, while in the first nine months of 2013, 136 women were killed due to domestic violence in Turkey, in the first half of 2014 alone, more than 200 women lost their lives due to domestic violence. In Iran, however, the organization 'Justice for Iran' has called on the International Labour Organization to protest against the violation of women's equal employment rights in the 'Comprehensive Population and Family Excellence Plan' and to demand that the Islamic Republic of Iran remove this plan from the parliamentary agenda. Justice for Iran has sent two letters to the Secretary-General of the International Labour Organization and the head of the Gender Equality Department of this organization, providing an analytical report on the violation of women's employment rights in the 'Comprehensive Population and Family Excellence Plan' and the negative consequences of this plan's approval to this international body. Maryam Hossein Khah, a researcher at Justice for Iran, is a guest on this week's program. Ms. Hossein Khah, there has been a lot of propaganda about the Comprehensive Population and Family Excellence Plan, and it has been argued that this plan is fully in defense of women's status in Iran. What criticisms can be made regarding this plan? Maryam Hossein Khah: One of the criticisms of this plan is that it does not consider equal rights for women and imposes restrictions on women in favor of marriage and having more and larger offspring. At first glance, one might think that some advantages are given to women, but when we look deeper into this plan, we see that the benefits may even seem to be in favor of women in the short term, but in the long term, it undermines the achievements that women have gained over the years for their right to work and their rights to equality and independence. Ms. Hossein Khah, how can having early retirement rights for women, longer maternity leave, and recognition of their part-time work harm women's employment status in Iran? One direct effect is that it marginalizes women in the labor market. This plan pushes women to the margins of the labor market, and employers, whether public or private, cannot view them as full-time employees they can rely on. In fact, I think women's employment is not such that we can say all women should go home and do housework. But one way this plan has taken is to say, fine, women can work, but only to a small extent, so they can have a social presence, as they say, and earn some pocket money for themselves, while not questioning their primary duties, which this plan defines as motherhood and wifeliness. Now, what is the problem with this? Yes, family is very important, and population growth is also very important. I say this from the government’s perspective. But placing all this burden on mothers is not right. Even if society has an urgent need for its population to increase and everyone should mobilize, this should be equally divided between women and men, between mothers and fathers. In my opinion, it is not fair for men to go to work, climb the ladder of advancement, earn more money, which naturally gives them more power, while women have a side job and spend most of their time at home taking care of children. Ms. Hossein Khah, Iran, as a member of the International Labour Organization and its international labor rights conventions, has committed to observing gender equality in employment. But as you say, this plan is actually acting contrary to this. What response will Iran have to international bodies regarding this gender discrimination in the workplace? We are also waiting for Iran's response. Justice for Iran has recently sent a letter to the International Labour Organization protesting the violation of women's equal employment rights in the Comprehensive Population and Family Excellence Plan. This is because Iran is a member of the International Labour Organization and is committed to at least two or three of its conventions, and this plan completely violates the provisions of these conventions. In the analytical report that Justice for Iran has published, these violations have been specifically highlighted. In my opinion, a significant criticism of this analysis is that instead of holding society responsible for raising children and providing services to them, all this burden has been placed on the family, and the family has been specifically defined as a mother or, in the second stage, grandmothers. That is, an interesting aspect of this plan is that it has included a series of incentives for grandmothers to come and take care of their grandchildren.