Government Representatives' Trip to Finland to Examine 'Healthy Family'

The concept of a healthy family has sparked considerable debate among various groups concerned with women's issues in Iran in recent weeks. The situation began when a group of women, sent by the government of Hassan Rouhani, traveled to Finland to study what they described as the 'healthy family' in that country under a project funded by the United Nations Population Fund. According to Zahra Bonyanian, the CEO of the Sadighin Charity Institute, Finland has been successful in reducing violence against women and children, and the interaction between its government, parliament, and judiciary with non-governmental organizations has been very positive, utilizing the cooperation of NGOs at all stages of planning. It might be worth noting that Finland has the highest representation of women in its government and parliament, with 12 out of 20 government members being women and 42% of parliamentary representatives being female. However, Bonyanian, without referring to the specific criteria set by the Islamic Republic for defining a healthy family, only mentioned the existence of a healthy network of women in Finland, consisting of 450,000 members from a population of 5.5 million. Before delving into the discussions surrounding the supporters and opponents of this government delegation's trip to Finland, let's start by defining a healthy family. I asked sociologist Hossein Ghazian, residing in Washington, whether there is a concept of a healthy family at all. Ghazian replied, 'To be honest, no! Because when we talk about concepts, we are referring to different things. If your listeners could bear with me for a moment and listen to my brief explanation, perhaps my point would be clearer. Typically, a family consists of a woman, a man, and, for example, two or three children. This is clear and refers to an external matter. But when we say healthy family, it is just like saying beautiful family or good family. 'Good' and 'beautiful' are not things that exist externally; rather, you are attributing them. A healthy family is similar. In fact, 'healthy family' is another term for 'good family.' However, if we say good family, everyone asks which family is good? Who says this is good? There is another cover under the title 'healthy family' that we think has some backing of health somewhere. Science does not provide us with such criteria, not even medical science. Something called health, which is even discussed in medicine, is based on our accepted values. There is absolutely no such thing as a healthy family out there. This healthiness is a description that I or you or someone else attributes to something that is good for us. I consider something good or beautiful; you consider something else good or beautiful, and so on. There is no standard for making an accurate judgment about what is more beautiful or better. Therefore, we do not have a healthy family in this concept. We can define a healthy family as many as there are people on earth, and if we do that, then the concept of a healthy family is no longer a singular concept and, in fact, it does not exist.' Nevertheless, it seems that there is a perception of the concept of a healthy family in the minds of Iranians. Ahmad, a listener of Radio Farda in Isfahan, says about a healthy family: 'In my opinion, a healthy family is one that has management. Management does not necessarily have to be by a woman or a man. What I mean is that they should get along. In every area and every issue and every task that comes up, their shouting should not go to waste.' One of the most important features highlighted during the Iranian delegation's trip to Finland is the 1.4% population growth and the reduction of violence in Finnish families. In response to the question of whether the Islamic Republic's criteria for defining a healthy family are truly limited to these two features, Ghazian states, 'I do not think that the Islamic Republic's criteria, or more precisely, Islamic criteria, align with this definition or these two criteria. Currently, the population growth rate in our country is such that each household replaces 1.3 individuals. Therefore, this rate is not desirable, and that is why new population policies aim for more than two children to be born in each family or three children. Thus, that 1.4 is not a suitable replacement according to the Islamic Republic and does not lead to desirable population growth. Although this has nothing to do with the family. The benefit goes to society, not the family. If we assume that increasing or decreasing the population is good, whichever it is, the family here is a tool for broader public policies. It may not benefit itself. For example, families may have to endure having more children, making themselves miserable, but society may benefit from it. This action, of course, is not certain. The same goes for the issue of violence. Things that we might interpret as violence today are not necessarily considered violence according to existing laws and religious texts. Thus, this alignment, in general, does not seem to be established.' Let's hear from Maryam, a listener of the program from Rasht, about a healthy family: 'I think a healthy family is one where the positions of both parties, that is, the husband and wife, are defined, and they have equal rights. Every event or decision and everything should be considered by both parties. This is something that is very rare in Iranian society. Even if a woman has the right to speak somewhere, the final decision is still up to the man. The position where there is dialogue and conversation is very important in a healthy family. If a family can talk to each other, whether it is the husband and wife or the parents with their children, and even the children with each other, certainly, no matter how many disagreements or problems there are, the family can solve a problem in a way that minimizes the impact on the family. In my opinion, what keeps a family healthy is the existence of dialogue and respect for each other's opinions.' However, dialogue and respect in the family is a point that has not been mentioned in any of the discussions about healthy families. Ghazian comments on the existence of dialogue in a healthy family: 'This notion that we should think of a healthy family as one that has dialogue is an expectation that places excessive demands on dialogue. It is possible for a family to have dialogue, and that family is not necessarily healthy. Because a healthy family does not only relate to the communicative aspects of family members. It relates to many other matters that do not necessarily have a communicative aspect. For example, the way resources are distributed in the family, the way space is allocated in the family, and other similar issues constitute the structural aspects of the family and do not relate to the characteristics of the individuals themselves and their relationships with each other. These also form more fundamental aspects of a healthy family. If the concept of health means equality. Because when we talk about dialogue, we are actually talking about a kind of equality as well. An equal family is a clearer concept than a healthy family. This is because it is a characteristic that others can examine and evaluate from the outside to see whether equality is present or not.' Minou Aslani, head of the Women's Basij, is one of the opponents of the government delegation's trip to Finland. She stated that the so-called 'worn-out and unsupported Western models' cannot provide a correct model of a healthy family, and Iran should look to religious and faith-based families as a model. I ask Ghazian whether the Islamic family model can be considered a symbol of a healthy family. 'As I said, healthy does not have a specific definition and depends on people's personal values. If someone thinks that a healthy family means a religious family and a religious family means a good family, then yes, they can go ahead and create their own healthy and religious family according to that rule. But if your emphasis is on these two bases, for example, decision-making and division of labor, it is clear that these two are predetermined in an Islamic family. That is, the leadership is already determined, and the division of labor is also predetermined. One person is supposed to have the final say, which is the man as the head of the family. In this way, the model is already prepared, and you must go implement that model. Whereas it seems that given the multitude of thoughts, values, situations, and exchanges that exist between people and also in family life, it is they themselves who should determine which model they can better proceed with.' At the end of the program, let's listen to a brief part of Ahmad's comments about education regarding family in Iranian schools. According to him, he was taught in school that women are intellectually deficient: 'Teachers in school said that women's intellect is deficient. In high school, they said that if you get married tomorrow, know that a woman's intellect is deficient. The intellect of forty women combined equals that of one hen.' Roya Karimi Majd began her journalism career in Iran in 1992 and joined Radio Farda in May 2008. She is the producer of the weekly program 'Another Voice,' which focuses on women's issues. In 2015, the Golden Microphone of the New York Radio Festival was awarded to the radio program 'Sunt Tigh,' which was produced by Roya Karimi Majd.