Hamid Melikoğlu - VOA's Azerbaijan service - March 09, 2020
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| Lawyer Mehri Jafari |
Legal expert and women's rights researcher Mehri Jafari reports the existence of unjust laws against women in Iran and states that every woman living in Iran is subjected to discrimination stemming from these unjust laws.
She notes that even women who are close to the government or work in state institutions are affected by these unfair laws in their lives.
Jafari expressed that the repeal of family law by Khomeini after the Iranian Islamic Revolution was the first step in the violation of women's rights.
She mentioned that, following the Iranian Islamic Revolution, laws have regressed to "tribal" laws, whereby men are deemed the heads of families and women's rights are acknowledged as being worth half that of men's.
"Over the years, women's rights activists have campaigned for changes in the laws and have tried to raise awareness among women about their rights, but the laws have remained unchanged throughout the years," Mehri Jafari stated.
The legal expert touched on women's achievements in education in Iran, yet noted that the Iranian government has implemented restrictive policies against this progress.
"You cannot find a government in the world that prefers to deny women the opportunity to study in certain fields rather than support them," the women's rights researcher remarked.
"When women in Iran seek to develop themselves through work, the Iranian government creates obstacles to prevent their advancement."
Regarding work and labor, Jafari indicated that the government prefers women to work in a limited capacity or stay at home as housewives.
She believes that the control of women by men has increased since the revolution in Iran. Jafari highlighted that women are compelled to wear the hijab, demonstrating that their freedoms have been restricted since the revolution.
"After the revolution, women's freedom, their control over their decisions and bodies, and the decisions they make about their future have been severely limited," the legal expert added.
She pointed out that throughout the rule of the Islamic Republic of Iran, women's freedoms have been curtailed by both the government and society, exemplified by the rising number of underage girls being married off, indicating a worsening situation. In her view, restrictive laws against women's rights and societal support for limiting women's freedoms further exacerbate this issue.
According to Mehri Jafari, the situation of women in Iran varies among different ethnic groups. "Women belonging to minoritized ethnic groups face double discrimination, both for being women and for the violation of their ethnic rights."
Link to the original source: https://www.amerikaninsesi.org/a/5320966.html