Iran's Bottom Ranking in Gender Gap

The newspaper Arman has reported, citing Leila Flahati, head of the International Affairs Department of the Vice Presidency for Women’s Affairs, that "according to a report published by the World Economic Forum, Iran ranks 139th in terms of gender gap among 144 countries." The newspaper writes that with a ranking of 139, Iran is "above countries such as Chad, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Pakistan, and Yemen in terms of gender gap," while "Saudi Arabia ranks 141 and Turkey 130." Arman notes that "previously, Iran's ranking in gender gap among 145 countries was 141," adding that "some barriers have kept women's social, economic, cultural participation, etc., low in Iran," and that "globally, women's economic participation is 50%, but in Iran, it is 12.7%, which has decreased by one percent in the last five years." The newspaper has stated that "one way to increase participation is to focus on developing entrepreneurship among women," noting that "the participation rate of educated women in Iran is 30% compared to educated men, meaning that investments made in the country for women's education have resulted in a significant participation rate for educated women, making it easier for policymakers in the country." The newspaper Etemad, in its front page on Thursday, quoted the President of the Islamic Republic stating, "We are ready for dialogue," interpreting this as "Hassan Rouhani's green light to the European Union in a meeting with the President of Finland." According to this newspaper, Rouhani emphasized in a joint media conference with the Finnish President that "during the negotiations, we stressed the use of the capacities of Iran-EU relations and the expansion of these relations in various scientific and economic fields, especially after the JCPOA." The newspaper Iran, close to the government, reported on Thursday about the visit of Sauli Niinistö, the President of Finland, to Tehran, quoting Hassan Rouhani as saying: "The Islamic Republic of Iran is ready to discuss and cooperate with EU countries on social and legal issues, including exchanging experiences in the fields of citizenship rights, human rights, and combating drugs, and familiarity with the legal rules of other countries, including Islamic rules, is a good help for mutual understanding and expanding more legal cooperation." According to this newspaper, during the Finnish President's visit to Iran, the two countries signed four cooperation agreements and memorandums of understanding to develop and deepen their relations, including a memorandum of understanding in the energy sector, a memorandum of understanding in communications and technology, a memorandum of understanding in forest management and resources, and a memorandum of understanding between Iran's Investment and Technical Economic Assistance Organization and the Finnish Export Credit Agency, all signed in the presence of the presidents of Iran and Finland. The newspaper Iran simultaneously published an editorial titled "Political and Legal Consequences of the European Resolution," welcoming the resolution of the European Parliament's Foreign Relations Committee titled "EU Strategy Towards Iran After the Nuclear Agreement," evaluating it as "the Union's move towards normalizing and developing long-term relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran," and stating that this resolution "also reflects the hidden truth that the next US government, whether under Clinton or Trump, will face serious and significant obstacles in creating an international coalition to exert diplomatic, economic, and political pressure on Iran, or in persuading its Western allies to cancel the JCPOA or obstruct its implementation if the Republicans win." Reza Nasri, a lawyer and member of the Geneva Center for International Studies, emphasized in the editorial of this newspaper that in addition, the resolution "EU Strategy Towards Iran After the Nuclear Agreement" contains three other fundamental points: "First, this resolution explicitly recognizes Iran as a 'main actor' in regional relations," "Second, this resolution (in paragraph 34) explicitly rejects the claim that Iran's missile tests are inconsistent with the 'JCPOA' and cautiously describes these exercises as merely 'inconsistent' with the 'spirit' of Security Council Resolution 2231," and "Third, for the first time in this resolution, the EU states that the 'revolutionary legacy of Iran' and the constitution of this country should not be seen as obstacles to dialogue and finding 'common ground' in the fields of democracy, rule of law, and human rights." The newspaper Javan, close to the Revolutionary Guards, published the reaction of Mohammad Javad Larijani to the proposal to establish an EU office in Tehran, quoting him as saying: "We will not allow the EU's house of corruption to be established." According to this newspaper, Javad Larijani, on the sidelines of the fifth joint meeting of Interpol police with judges and legal experts, severely criticized the Western proposal to establish an office in Tehran, stating: "If this office is for pursuing commercial matters, there is no problem, but they have stated that they want to establish this office to closely connect with human rights defenders and NGOs in our country to ensure the implementation of human rights in our country, so they should know that the judiciary will definitely not allow such a house of corruption to be established in Iran." The newspaper Javan also quoted Javad Larijani as saying, "We negotiate with them on human rights to show that besides their words, there are many other good arguments in the field of human rights." The newspaper Kayhan also noted on its front page on Thursday that "the European Parliament approved the resolution to normalize relations with Iran," stating that "this document contains instances of Western countries' interference in Iran's internal affairs." This newspaper emphasized that "it seems that the EU, during the approval of this resolution, is asking Iran to use its pivotal and key role and to stop supporting the resistance movement in the region to pave the way for colonizers and the new Middle East plan." The newspaper Shargh reported on "the questioning of representatives from the Minister of Justice" regarding the reasons for dealing with student publications. This newspaper wrote: "On Wednesday, the question of 18 representatives of the parliament, the majority of whom were members of the Hope faction, was announced to the Minister of Justice. In this question, Mustafa Pourmohammadi, the Minister of Justice, is asked to explain the reasons for unconstitutional, ordinary law violations, and violations of the Supreme Cultural Revolution Council laws, summons, and detention of students due to their writings and statements in student publications." Shargh recalled that "this question was announced in the open session of the parliament on Wednesday, while on Monday of this week, a number of representatives from student associations and publications met with several members of parliament, including Ali Motahari and Mahmoud Sadeghi, representatives from Tehran, and criticized the actions taken against students. Students complained about the inaction of some university presidents in the face of external requests to cancel student ceremonies and, at the same time, criticized the fact that permits for the formation of student unions are not issued or that students are dealt with for publishing their statements in student publications, calling for parliament's intervention to reform this practice." According to this newspaper, the text of the question from 18 representatives to the Minister of Justice states: "In the past year, illegal and non-compliant actions, including Articles 32, 23, 35, 36, and 37 of the Constitution and the resolutions of the Supreme Cultural Revolution Council and legal regulations regarding student publications, have been placed under the jurisdiction of the monitoring committee for publications and the student disciplinary committee. Actions against students due to their comments, including repeatedly mentioning the name and printing the photo of the respected former president by public and revolutionary courts, have occurred. We expect you, as the Minister of Justice, and the respected President, as the executive authority of the Constitution, to defend the rights of students and not be indifferent to the repeated violations of their rights. Therefore, we kindly request you to explain the reasons for the judicial actions against student publications that are contrary to legal standards and why you have remained silent and indifferent to these actions." Qasem Mirzaei, Mohammad Javad Fathi, Alireza Mohajer, Mohammad Baqer Saadat, Bahman Taherkhani, Tayebe Siawoshi, Zahra Saei, Soheila Jaloudar Zadeh, Farideh Oladghobad, Fatemeh Saeedi, Seyedeh Fatemeh Zolghadr, Parvaneh Mafi, Mohammad Sadegh Hasani, Abolfazl Mousavi, Behrouz Farhangi, Ahmad Mazani, Mehdi Sheikh, and Mohammad Ali Vakili are the representatives who signed this question. Ahmad Hakimi Pour, a member of the Tehran City Council, told the newspaper Etemad: "I gave the report on astronomical properties to Yashar Soltani," but this letter "did not have a confidential stamp." This member of the Tehran City Council also stated: "We are representatives of the people in the Tehran City Council, and one of our main duties is to oversee the proper flow of affairs in the Tehran municipality. Naturally, news and information from various sources reach the members of the Tehran City Council regarding matters related to the municipality and urban management, and this is very natural," but "when such news and information reached me, I felt it was my inherent and legal duty to investigate and discover the truth, and I have repeatedly corresponded with the head of the Tehran City Council to arrange a meeting on this issue with the mayor of Tehran, which has not yet taken place." According to this newspaper, Mehdi Chamran, the head of the Tehran Islamic Council, stated that "the mentioned letter, which was confidential, was not sent to Mr. Hakimi Pour and another person committed an offense and provided it to him, and he should not have given this confidential letter to a journalist." Yashar Soltani, the editor of ArchitecNews, has been detained since September 27 for publishing a letter from the General Inspection Organization regarding the allocation of "astronomical properties" of the Tehran municipality to individuals and legal entities with special discounts. The newspaper Shahrvand has a report about "the activities of rabies prevention centers in Iran," stating: "Rabies kills 55,000 people worldwide each year, but the death toll from this deadly disease in Iran is even less than the fingers on one hand, and the lethality of this disease is the reason for the free services of 600 rabies prevention centers across the country." The Deputy of the Center for Management of Infectious Diseases at the Ministry of Health stated: "If we did not have vaccination, rabies would kill 2,000 to 3,000 people each year; the price of each rabies vaccine may reach one million tomans, but the government has made these costs free," and "only in 1390, 135,000 human animal bite cases were reported, of which 7 people lost their lives."