Violence Against Women in Iran and the World According to Statistics

December 5, 1403, coinciding with November 25, is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. On this occasion, the data mining group of Radio Farda has examined four indicators and illustrated the dimensions of violence against women in Iran and the world through six charts. Domestic Violence Against Women Official statistics in Iran indicate that annually, an average of over 74,000 women visit forensic medical centers for physical examinations related to spousal abuse; in other words, one in every 300 married women in Iran seeks to report spousal abuse to the forensic organization, but this is not the full picture. Estimates suggest that the actual cases of domestic violence against women in Iran are nearly 100 times this figure. The latest available statistics from the World Bank's gender data indicate that nearly one-third of women in Iran experience violence from their partners. This figure is the highest rate of violence against women in the region after Afghanistan and Turkey. It is worth noting that data from many countries in the region, including the Arab states of the Persian Gulf, are not available. Estimates from UN Women, the UN agency for gender equality, indicate that in 2022, at least 48,800 women worldwide were killed by their husbands or sexual partners. In other words, 133 women or at least five women per hour globally fall victim to femicide. Statistical investigations show that in 55% of cases of women's murders, the perpetrator is a husband or partner, while this ratio for men is only 12%. In Iran, official institutions do not provide and publish accurate statistics on spousal killings, but Iranian newspapers report based on news over various time periods. For example, the newspaper Shargh reported in the summer of 1403 that between Khordad 1400 and Khordad 1402, at least 165 femicides occurred in Iran, with in two-thirds of these cases, the perpetrator was a husband and in one-fifth of cases, a father or brother. Sexual Abuse and Violence According to estimates from UN Women, one in three women worldwide experiences sexual violence; violence that is often inflicted by a husband or partner. There are no statistics available on the status of Iran regarding this indicator in international datasets. In scattered studies on the subject of rape and sexual abuse, it has been emphasized that cases of sexual abuse and rape are not reported in Iran; however, the profile page of Iran on the UN Women website refers to a 2018 study indicating that 18% of women aged 15 to 49 reported experiencing sexual violence at least once in the 12 months leading up to the survey. Additionally, 22.5% of girls over 15 reported being forced to perform unpaid household work. This ratio for men is less than five percent. Forced Marriage and Childbearing UN Women considers forced marriage and childbearing as one of the forms of violence against women. The Statistical Center of Iran has stopped publishing birth statistics by age group of mothers since the beginning of 1402, but existing statistics show that between 1395 and 1401, an average of 1,438 births were registered in Iran with mothers under 15 years of age. According to Iranian civil law, marriage for girls under 13 is allowed only with court permission and determination, but the latest raw data from the Civil Registration Organization in 99 shows that in that year, 767 cases of marriages under 13 were officially registered with court permission across Iran. If we consider the international standard for child marriage to be 18 years, according to the latest statistics, more than one-fifth of registered marriages in Iran qualify as 'child marriage.' This means that out of approximately 557,000 registered marriages in 99, in 118,000 cases, the bride was under 18 years old.