Four Million Toman Grant from the Welfare Committee for Women to Remarry

Following the announcement of family policies by Ayatollah Khamenei, the director of the Welfare Committee in Tehran Province announced a plan to allocate a four million toman grant to 54,000 female heads of households under the coverage of this organization for remarriage. According to a report on Saturday, September 24, by Young Journalists Club, Mohsen Valiei, the director of the Welfare Committee in Tehran, stated that this amount is intended for 'buying household items and establishing a new life.' As Mr. Valiei mentioned, female heads of households are the 'largest demographic' covered by this organization, and in addition, 'a Qarz al-Hasna loan of up to five million tomans is also available for these individuals.' He added, 'About 54,000 people, or 70% of those covered by the Welfare Committee, are female heads of households.' The director of the Welfare Committee in Tehran also stated that girls under the coverage of this organization who are 'of marriageable age' will also receive the four million toman grant. The provision of a two million toman grant to boys under the coverage of this organization is another initiative by the Welfare Committee in Tehran to 'promote the culture of marriage in society.' Mohsen Valiei referred to 3,500 marriages in 2015 planned by the Welfare Committee, of which 252 cases included remarriages of female heads of households with the provision of facilities. The statements of the director of the Welfare Committee in Tehran came after the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic called for 'encouragement and facilitation' of marriage for female heads of households and legal, economic, and cultural support for them. Ali Khamenei, on September 4, instructed the heads of the three branches of government and the head of the Expediency Discernment Council to create a 'comprehensive national movement to promote and facilitate successful and easy marriages for all girls and boys and... to negate celibacy in society.' He ordered that this should be done 'by establishing executive policies and laws and regulations that are encouraging and supportive, as well as cultural promotion and valuing the formation of families based on divine tradition.' The main approach in these policies, as inferred from the text, is cultural promotion regarding 'the aversion' to divorce, 'negating celibacy,' 'encouraging' young people and female heads of households to marry, and reducing the role of women to that of wives, mothers, and homemakers.