Sterilization of Homeless Women: Solution or Crime?

The 1000% increase in homelessness in Iran (from 15,000 in 2006 to 150,000 in 2015, ILNA December 29, 2015) has turned this phenomenon into a widespread social issue visible to all citizens. In Tehran, the number of homeless individuals was reported to be around 15,000 in 2015, a figure that has certainly increased today. At one point, these homeless people settled in parks and neighborhoods but were driven out due to social protests. Surrounding villages and shantytowns have also been places of gathering for them. Shortly thereafter, thousands of homeless individuals settled in cemeteries around Tehran (about 7,500 out of approximately 15,000 homeless people in Tehran, Fars January 9, 2017), which has become the leading social news in the country as winter approaches. However, there are no accurate statistics on what percentage of the homeless are women, how many of the homeless women are addicted (according to the spokesperson for the Drug Control Headquarters, only one of the cemetery dwellers in Nasirabad was addicted, ISNA January 2, 2017), how many are sex workers, and how many are fertile and productive. It has been claimed that the number of homeless women in Tehran is around '500', '3,000', and '15,000' (according to the Vice President, a member of the Tehran City Council, and the Mayor of Tehran, respectively), with 20% of them having AIDS (according to the Director General of Social Affairs of Tehran Province, ILNA January 2, 2017), and most or all of them being sex workers and addicts who also sell their children. Authorities at provincial and municipal levels and state media have adopted various methods to deal with this phenomenon: from widespread denial (citing the number of cemetery dwellers as around 5 to 8 according to the Minister of Labor, January 2, 2017; or 50 according to the Citizen report January 1, 2017) to relocating the issue (from parks and neighborhoods to places where they cannot be seen) and from temporary collection to sterilization. This article focuses solely on the issue of sterilization of homeless women. Proposal or Policy? Officials of the Islamic Republic, such as the Vice President for Women and Family Affairs or provincial officials, speak of sterilization only as a suggestion to homeless women and not as a compulsion. This sterilization is proposed only to homeless women and not to homeless men, who certainly have a role in sexual relations with homeless women and in impregnating them. Inviting homeless women to undergo 'voluntary' sterilization is, optimistically, a shameless proposal and realistically, an organized crime. Interestingly, the Tehran Municipality also resorted to the same sterilization policy in dealing with stray cats (stray dogs were not even deemed worthy of sterilization and were all killed). The invitation for homeless women to undergo 'voluntary' sterilization is, optimistically, a shameless proposal and realistically, an organized crime. The policy of sterilizing homeless women, contrary to the claims of government officials, is not a suggestion to them but a policy that has been implemented. The government and municipality possess the necessary tools to turn a suggestion into an executive policy, and they have exercised this. Conditioning the provision of services such as free food, winter shelters, and some health services on sterilization is a form of soft coercion to force homeless women into sterilization. It is clear that today they will not come and bind the hands and feet of women in the streets and 'send' them for sterilization. However, when individuals (especially those who are vulnerable and broken) are threatened and rewarded, most of them will dance to the tune of the government. Why Sterilization? Because it is the easiest and cheapest method of managing the children of the homeless. Homeless individuals should not have children because providing shelter for women along with street children is very costly and troublesome and requires institutional support. Moreover, Iranian citizens have become accustomed to seeing homeless women (which was not the case ten years ago), but they are not accustomed to seeing street children, which raises their voices. The inhumane policy of sterilizing homeless women can only be traced back to fascist regimes that sought to avoid the difficulties of caring for and assisting disabled, incapacitated, and damaged individuals. In shelters that accommodate homeless women and their children, social workers should naturally help women acquire a profession, manage their time and money, and escape from trouble. This requires years of monitoring such vulnerable individuals. Children also need continuous nutrition, health care, and education, and the duties of motherhood and fatherhood must be continuously supervised by social workers. The officials of the Islamic Republic, like issuing death sentences, want to escape the long-term process of helping individuals return to normal life through sterilization. It is clear that after years of effort, some of these individuals may not return to normal life, but in societies where human beings are valued, individuals are not abandoned to their fate, assuming failure. In justifying sterilization, it has been said that this prevents the birth of children with AIDS. First, it is unclear that all homeless women have AIDS. Second, AIDS is controllable and treatable, and with existing treatment methods, individuals infected with the AIDS virus can give birth to healthy children if they seek timely care before or even during pregnancy. Third, the method of combating AIDS is education and access for sex workers to prevention methods, not their sterilization. Justification of Sterilization The officials of the Islamic Republic have not provided any religious, ethical, or humanitarian justification for legitimizing sterilization. They introduce this solution as an effective method to prevent the sale of children. First, a specific outcome (even if accessible and effective) does not permit the use of any means. Second, the sale of children in Iran is not solely carried out by homeless and addicted women, so sterilizing them will not eliminate this phenomenon. The sale of children (which includes marrying off children as part of this phenomenon) is rooted in poverty, not merely addiction and homelessness. Third, even if only homeless addicted women have 'become incubators' (this derogatory term from the Director General of the Tehran Province), which is not the case, there is always the possibility of rehabilitating them. Homeless and addicted women have the right to have children after rehabilitation. The only basis for justifying the sterilization policy is the ownership of citizens in a religious government that particularly affects women. All behaviors of the religious government in the field of women (gender segregation, compulsory hijab, gender quotas, prioritizing men for employment, banning women from singing, discriminatory family laws, and the internal-external segregation of homes) are based on the assumption of women's bodies belonging to power, which has manifested in the religious government today. When such ownership is assumed, naturally, their sterilization also gains religious legitimacy. Interestingly, none of the Shia authorities have reacted to the sterilization of homeless women (while they are generally opposed to sterilization of women except in very specific conditions), whereas if a female reader or musician is seen somewhere, their cries of 'Woe to Islam' are raised. Where are resources spent? The Tehran Municipality and other cities are at the top of the list of institutions that must assist the homeless regardless of their background and conditions. Addiction or being a sex worker does not deprive them of their most basic rights (the right to life, health, and childbearing). However, the social resources of municipalities are spent on building mosques and assisting religious committees and holding religious ceremonies so that mayors and city council members can remain in their positions. Even mosques built with public resources do not have open doors for the homeless. The Tehran Municipality alone, in one case of corruption, grants about 2 trillion tomans in discounts for land and building transfers to 'insiders' but leaves the homeless to sleep in graves. Government and state resources are also spent on religious bureaucracy (mosques, clergy, seminaries, the making and maintenance of shrines) and military interventions in other countries (about 6 billion dollars annually in Syria alone). If a small portion of these resources were spent on building shelters or renting some buildings for housing the homeless and organizing their lives, we would no longer face the phenomenon of grave sleeping or cardboard sleeping. Instead of helping homeless women and their children, the officials of the Islamic Republic have reached this inhumane and unethical solution that homeless women (addicted or non-addicted, sex workers or not) should be sterilized. Sterilizing women as a policy is a form of organized and state crime against Iranian women. This inhumane policy can only be traced back to fascist regimes that sought to avoid the difficulties of caring for and assisting disabled, incapacitated, and damaged individuals.