The captain of the Iranian women's football team was banned from travelling by her husband - but that's just the tip of the iceberg, writes David Blair
Throughout
their lives, Iranian women are forced to navigate a web of restrictions,
imposed by law and custom. Every aspect of their existence – from how they must
dress in public, to the subjects they can study at university and the jobs they
are allowed to do in the workplace – is closely regulated.
An
example was highlighted last week, when a female football star in Iran was banned from travelling to an
international tournament by her husband. He
refused to sign papers allowing her to renew her passport, meaning she was
unable to play in the Asian Cup.
The
system is not necessarily finished with a woman even after she dies. If death
should come in the form of a tragic accident, then her family will receive only
half the legal compensation that would be due for the loss of a man.
Education
But
there is also good news. Unlike in Saudi Arabia, Iranian women are allowed to
drive and to move with relative freedom. There are no restrictions on female
primary or secondary education – and at university level, women now comprise
the majority of students.
However,
certain universities ban female students from studying specific subjects,
usually those concerning engineering and technology. In general terms, the
trend has been towards imposing more restrictions and increasing the number of
subjects that are closed to women, although the practise varies from one
university to the next.
Dress restrictions
Meanwhile,
women who venture outdoors must wear a headscarf, known as the “rusari”, and a
long overcoat, known as the “manteau”; alternatively, they can wear a black
cloak known as the “chador”. These are legal requirements, punishable by fines
or imprisonment for repeat offenders.
How
strictly the law is enforced depends on many factors. Partly, it is down to
where you happen to live: in affluent north Tehran, women tend to push back
their “rusaris” to reveal an abundance of hair. Their "manteaus" are
multi-coloured and stylishly nipped in at the waist. In conservative rural
Iran, however, drab black “chadors” are the norm.
How
women are allowed to dress also depends on which political faction happens to
be in power. If hardliners are in the ascendancy, it might be wise to conceal
every whisp of hair on the streets of Tehran; if reformers are in office, you
might try wearing your rusari so far back as to render it almost invisible. The
unspoken rules can change from month to month.
Workplace life
Women
are generally accepted in the workplace in Iran - although, once again, there
are restrictions. Under Article 1117 of the Civil Code, an Iranian man can ban
his wife from working if he believes this would be “incompatible with the
interests of the family or with his or his wife’s dignity”.
The
most striking element of this law is that a man can stop his wife from working
if he thinks this would damage his own dignity.
Fortunately,
this seems to be rare: there is no doubt that Iranian women make up a
considerable – and probably increasing – minority of the workforce.
As
in higher education, however, certain roles are closed to them. Over the
summer, the Iranian Central Bank advertised various positions intended for university
graduates. All of these adverts stated whether the job in question was open to
men and women – or to men alone.
Of
the 47 vacancies, 36 were “men only” and 11 were available to both genders. The
logic behind the distinction was unclear. For some reason, men and women can
join the “statistics” section of the Central Bank – but the “accounting”
department is men only.
Women
can apply for a post in the “administration of education” department, but not
in “public administration”. A woman can be accepted by the “medical
administration” section, yet only men are entrusted with “IT management”.
Politics
This
erratic approach extends into the world of politics. Women are allowed to run
for parliament and the 290-seat House currently has nine female members (a mere
three per cent of the total). President Hassan Rouhani has made an important
gesture by appointing a handful of female ministers: the most senior, Masoumeh
Ebtekar, serves as one of Iran’s 12 vice-presidents.
But
every time a woman has tried to run for president, she has always been turned
down by the Guardian Council, a powerful committee of old men which vets all
candidates for public office.
So
Iranian women must contend with countless ceilings – some made of glass, and
others of the very visible firmament of the law itself. Telegraph
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