Digital Employment for Women; A Path That 'Is Expected to Be Blocked'

In the early days of the new year, it has been reported that the filtering of Telegram will begin at the end of Farvardin, one of the social networks that, according to statistics published so far, is among the most popular networks in Iran, with millions of Iranians being members. This comes at a time when economic experts say that with new global changes, new employment doors have opened, which can change the employment conditions for women in various societies. Ahmad Alavi, an economics professor in Sweden, states: "In traditional societies like those in the Middle East, traditional-religious culture prevails. Women have less presence in public spaces, which harms their capabilities, meaning they do not acquire up-to-date information, do not gain enough experience, and do not enter the social networks that are sources of power, wealth, social status, and influence. As a result, they remain at a disadvantage. In these societies, this barrier is now broken on the internet, meaning that instead of women having to go into the social sphere to gain information, connections, knowledge, and status, the internet has come to their homes. Thus, that traditional structure is broken, which is not without impact on social status, power, wealth, and social influence. In the specific labor market, we must say we are moving towards a digital economy that affects mental and psychological work, soft work, and also the service sector. Let’s remember that the main consumers of the service sector are households, namely women and children." Amir Rashidi, an internet security expert in America who began his civil activities in the women's field, responds to the question of whether digital jobs for women in Iran have become significant enough to pursue independently: "...I go back a bit. I remember ten or twelve years ago or more, when I was a student, our professors looked at female students in technical and engineering classes differently than male students. Once in an assembly language programming class, one of the women mispronounced the word 'stack' as 'steak', and the professor insulted her, saying she should go work in the kitchen and not attend this class. However, if we look at today’s situation in Iran, we see women are active in various IT fields and generally hold high positions. Overall, much needs to be done in the Iranian labor market for women to achieve equal positions. Nevertheless, the situation has improved, and in the startup sector, we see women playing significant roles as organizational leaders." Educated women, unemployed women Despite all the problems that may exist in the digital employment field for women, the few women who have entered this field have shown they have much to say. The first major Iranian startup was launched by Nazanin Daneshvar in 2011, and her team grew from two to sixty in four years, and now over two million Iranian users benefit from this site’s services. A look at the list of top female entrepreneurs in Iran shows that all of them hold degrees higher than a bachelor’s. Meanwhile, according to Masoumeh Ebtekar, Deputy for Women's Affairs under Hassan Rouhani, the number of educated unemployed women is twice that of educated unemployed men. I asked Ahmad Alavi whether, if Iran focuses on expanding digital jobs, the problem of employment for educated women could be resolved. Ahmad Alavi responds: "If Ms. Ebtekar's opinion is backed, it must be accepted that women’s capabilities are currently blocked by a male-dominated society, and sooner or later this barrier will break. Therefore, we must either accept economic backwardness or, if we accept the digitization of the economy, women should logically play a larger role. This high unemployment among women is not due to a lack of access to knowledge, as women’s statistics in universities are high, and they have access to education. Experience over the past few years has shown that women are also interested in the digital and online world, and a large part of the female community uses new technology. Thus, the patriarchal and religious society of Iran cannot continue to insist on the barriers placed before women. Therefore, the rigid structure must change so that this historical backwardness can be compensated, which also creates economic inefficiency and takes legitimacy from the authorities, leading them to realize sooner or later that they must abandon this rigid structure and accept transformations." Gender Discrimination in Digital Jobs Although it seems that due to the limitations of digital jobs and somewhat self-employment, the gender discrimination that hinders women's activities may be less, Tabassom Latifi, founder of the startup 'MamanPaz' with over a million users, told the Shanbe website: "There is a viewpoint that investors tend to avoid collaborating with female founders, thinking that women will become involved in their personal lives at some point and will pay less attention to their startup." Amir Rashidi looks at this issue from another perspective, saying: "The areas where women are active, from Sistan and Baluchestan where women sell their embroidery on Instagram or Telegram to Tehran, where there are obviously more facilities, women work based on their individual creativity. For example, small Instagram or Telegram accounts run solely by women, if given the right training and provided with the necessary resources, could turn into startups that create jobs for several people. This employment is also effective in terms of gender equality because women who until yesterday had to fill out forms and be interviewed to get hired, facing numerous issues regarding equal rights and positions with men, are now in a position where, with the right training or resources, they can become entrepreneurs themselves." Women, Telegram, and Filtering Even before the New Year holidays in Iran were over, officials announced the consideration of filtering Telegram by the end of Farvardin, a filtering that Amir Rashidi believes may provoke reactions: "In the same month of Dey when protests were ongoing and Telegram was blocked, according to President Rouhani himself, thousands of people lost their jobs or faced disruptions. If we face restrictions and blocking [of Telegram], it will naturally have a negative effect on the market. Currently, Telegram has nearly 40 million users in Iran. If Telegram is blocked, all these people will lose their jobs, and it will take time for them to find another platform, thus taking away their job market. Perhaps one of the reasons that has prevented Telegram from being filtered so far is that this action would also exacerbate economic dissatisfaction." In Esfand of last year, the Tehran prosecutor described the year 1396 as 'unprecedented' due to public protests over issues such as hijab. He stated that 'subversive actions' such as 'unveiling' occurred in that year, which had not been seen since the victory of the Islamic Revolution. I asked Ahmad Alavi what the situation for women's employment would be if the doors to digital employment were to be further blocked. He says: "These days, women are present in all political and social activities. Even in the events that occurred in Isfahan, namely the water rights issue, women participated. One should not think that it is only an economic issue. It is also a matter of status and politics. These are so intertwined that they cannot be separated. Therefore, the government must accept that it either needs to change rigid institutions or expect that these tensions will increase day by day, and thus it is unlikely that the government can withstand these tensions in the long run. The best solution is to grant the right of choice to women and society."