TEHRAN- The government's positive attitude toward women and families in the past two years has led to the implementation of different projects that have improved women’s status in society.

Providing thousands of job opportunities for women heads of households, approving a bill to prevent women from being physically or mentally harmed, improving their safety against violence, allocating one percent of the budget of organizations to women-related projects, setting up a national headquarters for women and family affairs, and increasing the annual budget of the vice presidency for women and family affairs by 50 percent are some of the actions taken so far.

Within the past two years, some 3,600 jobs have been created for women heads of households, which is strong proof of the government’s determination to solve problems and the challenges ahead of women.

A family-oriented business program aims to create jobs for female breadwinners in 21 provinces.

Also, to support families and empower women, the national headquarters for women and family affairs has approved six important plans.  

These plans include setting up a loan guarantee fund for women heads of households, improving the organizational structure related to the vice presidency for women and family office, implementing a plan to reorganize women’s employment status, preparing a plan to reduce the negative effects of divorce by counseling new couples, enhancing women's occupational system, launching a comprehensive statistical system of women and families, and forming a working group on women, health, and security.

With the approval of the loan guarantee fund for women heads of the household, these women can earn a living to support their families.

The loan guarantee fund for women heads of households has now reached 600 billion rials (some $1.2 million) which is expected to increase before long.

Supporting marketplaces run by women in order to be able to export their products has also been put on the agenda. This issue will be seriously pursued with the support of the ministries of economy and industry.

Women’s protection

On April 9, the Majlis (Iranian parliament) approved the generalities of a bill aimed at protecting the dignity of women against violence

The bill titled, Protection, Dignity, and Security of Women against Violence, has been under review since September 2019. It criminalizes any act or behavior that causes “physical or mental harm” to women “as a vulnerable gender”.

It recommends a fund for safeguarding women’s rights with provisions for providing medical expenses for the victims of violence and imparting skill development training to them.

For the first time in Iran's legal system, this bill defines violence against women considers various types of violence as "crimes" and provides "punishments" for them.

At the same time, it has set tasks for the relevant judicial and executive bodies to prevent the occurrence of violence against women and provide support to the victims of violence by directing and regulating the aforementioned bodies.

Women’s achievements

According to official statistics, there are 4 million female heads of households, but according to unofficial statistics, the figure reaches more than 6 million.

The government has prioritized such families for targeting socio-economic support.

The Vice Presidency for Women and Family Affairs has released a report on the achievements of women after the 1979 Islamic Revolution in 7 areas of “education”, “health”, “employment and entrepreneurship”, “media”, “sports”, “decision-making”, and “environment, climate, and crises”.

In the field of education, the share of women in university faculty members has increased by 33.3 percent, and in medical sciences universities by 34 percent. Also, the number of female students in the country's universities has increased by 56 percent, according to the report.

Also, illiteracy among women and girls has been nearly eradicated as the literacy rate reached 99.3 percent and the ratio of female to male students has increased by 28 percent.

The report also says that after the Islamic Revolution until the Iranian calendar year 1400 (March 2021-March 2022), more than 9,500 female authors and 840 female publishers were active in the country.

In the field of employment and entrepreneurship, 4,200 rural women's credit funds have been operating. Also, 2,390 women work as members of the board of directors of knowledge-based companies.

According to this report, there are 16,111 sports clubs for women in the country, and 3,302 medals have been won by female athletes in recent world events.

Moreover, 70 women have been presidents of sports committees at the provincial level, and 51 women have been presidents and heads of sports federations. Also, 88,366 women referees have participated in national and international competitions, and Iranian women have worked in 97 international seats in world sports federations.

In the field of media, the participation rate of women in the field of information technology has reached 5.31 percent, 903 women filmmakers have worked in the field of cinema and 2000 women specialists have worked behind the scenes.

Also, 114 national awards and 128 international awards have been won by female filmmakers in prominent festivals.

A sustainable business plan

Implementing different projects for creating a sustainable business can definitely be very effective for empowering women in the country, Ensieh Khazali, Vice President for Women and Family Affairs, said.

The plans to create family-oriented sustainable businesses have been developed and are currently being implemented in 21 provinces

Skill training, support, and creation of employment opportunities for women are among our goals and plans, and with the implementation of the sustainable job plans, the employment of women will be provided for at least five years, she added.

Referring to the support of women entrepreneurs in 12 provinces of the country, she said that by implementing this program, 387 entrepreneurs and 1,600 women heads of households in 62 professions in all agricultural sectors are supported; 200 production sites and 100 Women's Cooperative Company will also be backed.

The plan to empower women heads of households was implemented with the aims of formulation, monitoring, and evaluating the implementation of the plan in the cultural, social, legal, and economic fields.