Əlirza Quluncu (Alirza Quluncu) - July 11, 2019
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| Mehri Jafari |
According to Mehri Jafari, the Iranian authorities not only refrain from taking any steps to solve women's issues but actively work to systematically exclude women from public life.
Speaking to the Voice of America, the lawyer commented on the employment situation of women in rural areas of Ardabil province.
"The situation of farming women in Iran's villages is very unclear. In official statistics, many farming women are labeled as housewives. The circumstances of young or unmarried women are also not well represented. The definition of a working woman is not clearly established," says Mehri Jafari.
She highlights that, due to this ambiguity, rural women cannot claim the value of their own labor:
"The issue is that women are primarily the farmers. Within the village, women perform the majority of the work. In addition, they take care of household chores and all other responsibilities that fall on their shoulders. But where does their income go? That remains unknown."
Jafari explains, "The truth is that women share this work with men. Perhaps women should even have a larger share... Yet here, men assume the role of employer. They do not view women as partners but rather as employees."
She emphasizes that the government has no program to address this issue.
"The status of women is not disclosed. Who is working? Who is looking for work? These remain unknown. For example, official statistics report approximately 16,000 working women and about 2,800 women looking for work in Ardabil's villages. However, in our province, we have 188,000 rural women of working age. So, where are the rest?" Jafari questions the official numbers.
Highlighting the fact that there are very few women in these villages who do not work in the fields, she says, "They all work. Every one of them is engaged in agriculture... Why is their work not counted? Because they are considered dependent on men. They work, but it is not recognized as their own labor."
The lawyer points out that women do not hold decision-making positions, arguing that the Iranian government systematically sidelines women from society.
In her view, city men decide the fate of rural women.
"There are two types of inequality here. First, the authority that the city has over the rural population. Rural residents must accept the program created by the city officials without question. If they need something, they must plead with city officials. The second inequality is that even in the city, it is men who make the decisions. Looking at last year's official statistics, there are only four female directors in state institutions in Ardabil province. There are 130 government institutions in Ardabil. Each institution has several managerial positions. Only four of those are held by women," Mehri Jafari concludes.