Thousands of Women Fired After Returning from Six-Month Maternity Leave

The Deputy Technical and Revenue of Iran's Social Security Organization announced that "based on studies," 47,000 out of 145,000 women who took a six-month maternity leave over an 18-month period were fired upon returning to work. According to ISNA, Mohammad Hassan Zada, the Deputy of the Social Security Organization, on Friday, August 9, also stated that the budget required to extend maternity leave in Iran to nine months in 2015 is about 320 billion tomans and that "not a single rial" of this budget has been allocated so far. The Iranian Parliament approved the "Law on Reforming Population and Family Regulations" on June 20, 2013, allowing the government to extend maternity leave for mothers to nine months, and their spouses to receive two weeks of paternity leave. Meanwhile, the government of former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had issued directives to increase maternity leave to nine months. However, after the election of President Hassan Rouhani, Es'hagh Jahangiri, the First Vice President, canceled the previous government's resolutions regarding the extension of maternity leave from six months to nine months and the paternity leave for fathers in August 2013. At the same time, Elham Aminzadeh, the Legal Deputy of the Iranian President, stated on July 9 that the government cannot provide the budget for increasing maternity leave from six months to nine months, and women must coordinate with their workplaces to take the nine-month leave. The Deputy Technical and Revenue of the Social Security Organization also stated on Friday that about 320 billion tomans are needed for the extension of maternity leave in 2015. Mohammad Hassan Zada added, "If the government deposits this amount for us today, we can announce the nine-month maternity leave from tomorrow, but so far not a single rial has been allocated for the extension of maternity leave to the organization." According to Mr. Zada, if the financial resources for this plan are secured, about 160,000 people could annually benefit from the nine-month maternity leave. The Deputy of the Social Security Organization also mentioned that "based on studies," 47,000 out of 145,000 women who utilized the six-month maternity leave in the country over an 18-month period were fired upon returning to work. He added, "Currently, due to the job market conditions, many highly educated individuals are willing to work for low wages, so if maternity leave is extended to nine months, the number of women who are fired after their leave will significantly increase." These statements from government officials come as several members of the Iranian Parliament have repeatedly criticized the failure to extend maternity leave to nine months. Meanwhile, Kobra Khazaeli, the head of the Cultural and Social Council of Women and Family, stated on July 13 that the government must be accountable for the non-implementation of the extension of maternity leave, which is one of the policies approved by the Supreme Cultural Revolution Council and the Islamic Consultative Assembly.