Is Women's Economic Participation Contributing to the Rising Divorce Rate in Iran?

The Open Data Iran database is an innovation project aimed at collecting data related to Iran in one place and presenting it in easily accessible formats. Radio Farda, in collaboration with this institution, publishes a series of articles. In recent years, the divorce rate in Iran has seen a significant increase, and various analyses have been presented regarding this issue. Particularly from the Iranian government and its extremist religious and traditional sectors, women's economic participation and their financial independence are often cited as one of the main reasons for the increase in divorce. In recent years, these sectors have attempted to encourage Iranian women to remain at home to preserve the family structure and focus solely on childbearing and upbringing. This article takes a general look at the official divorce statistics over the past 10 years and compares these statistics with indicators such as the women's economic participation rate and household per capita expenditure to examine the nature of these relationships. As seen in the first chart, the number of registered divorces in Iran has increased from 94,000 cases in 2006 to over 163,000 cases in 2015. The number of registered divorces has been growing at a significant slope, with the highest jump occurring between 2008 and 2009, and the number of divorces in 2014 and 2015 being nearly identical. In this article, we will analyze divorce statistics from 2015 in comparison with three other indicators. First, we will calculate the per capita divorce rate in each province, and then we will compare the per capita divorce rate with the women's economic participation rate in the same province. Next, we will examine the per capita divorce rate in each province in relation to household per capita expenditure. Finally, we will compare the per capita divorce rate of each province with the percentage of the rural population in that province. This way, we will clarify the relationship between the divorce rate and women's economic activity, household expenses, and urbanization. To ensure that divorce statistics in each province accurately reflect the separation rate, this article focuses on per capita divorce rather than the total number of divorces. Therefore, the number of registered divorces in each province is divided by the population of that province to determine the per capita divorce rate. According to statistics from the Civil Registration Organization, the highest number of divorces in Iran is recorded in Tehran, but as shown in the chart below, when per capita divorce is considered, it is Gilan Province that has the highest divorce rate relative to its population, while Tehran ranks seventh in the country for divorce rates. Sometimes, the hypothesis is raised that some women who wish to separate refrain from requesting divorce due to economic dependence on their husbands. With this reasoning, it is stated that most women who get divorced have economic independence. To assess the accuracy of this hypothesis, we can compare the per capita divorce rate with the women's economic participation rate. The economic participation rate indicates what proportion of the working-age population is considered active, meaning those who are employed or capable of having a job. In simpler terms, the economic participation rate shows what percentage of individuals (of working age) are present in the labor market. In chart number three, the women's economic participation rate is compared with the per capita divorce rate per thousand people for each province, where the vertical axis represents the per capita divorce rate and the horizontal axis represents the economic participation rate. As observed, in some provinces such as Ardabil and Gilan, where the women's economic participation rate is reported to be high, the per capita divorce rate is also high. However, this cannot be generalized to all provinces, as in Yazd and Ilam, where the women's economic participation rate is relatively high, the per capita divorce rate is less than 2 cases per thousand people, which is lower than the national average per capita divorce rate (2.07) per thousand people. Thus, it cannot be said that there is a direct correlation between divorce and women's economic participation, nor can it be concluded that increasing women's presence in the labor market leads to a higher divorce rate. Another hypothesis is that the better the living conditions of families, especially women, the higher the divorce statistics. By comparing the per capita divorce rate and household per capita expenditure, we examine the relationship between these two indicators. The reason for choosing per capita expenditure instead of per capita income is that even official Iranian centers, such as the Central Bank of Iran, prefer the per capita expenditure index for statistical analysis because it is more accurate than income statistics. These two indicators have a direct relationship, and by looking at household per capita expenditure, one can approximately estimate the household income. In chart number four, these two indicators are compared, and as can be seen, a province like Gilan, which has a high per capita divorce rate, also has high household per capita expenditure. In contrast, provinces like Razavi Khorasan and Kermanshah, which have the second and third highest per capita divorce rates in the country, are considered low-cost provinces in terms of household per capita expenditure. Therefore, it cannot be concluded from this data that higher household expenditure is directly related to an increase in divorce. Urbanization is another factor that is sometimes cited to explain the rising divorce statistics. To examine this issue, we can compare the per capita divorce rate of each province with the percentage of the rural population in that province. In chart number four, the percentage of the rural population of each province is compared with the per capita divorce rate of that province. According to what this chart reveals, provinces like Mazandaran, Hamadan, and Gilan have both a high rural population and a high per capita divorce rate, while in contrast, provinces like Tehran, Alborz, and Qom have very low rural populations and also high per capita divorce rates. Therefore, no clear relationship between urbanization and divorce is observed. In conclusion, by comparing the per capita divorce rates of provinces with the women's economic participation rate, household per capita expenditure, and the percentage of the rural population, it can be concluded that the common belief that women's entry into the labor market, improvement of their living conditions, and urbanization are factors contributing to the increase in divorce rates does not align with statistical findings. Therefore, any discriminatory policies by the Iranian government aimed at confining women to the home and using such assumptions to achieve their goals are rejected. In this context, the role of changes in social structure, lifestyle changes, and the dismantling of cultural barriers and taboos in increasing the divorce rate should not be overlooked.