Iranians cast their ballot for the presidential elections at a polling station in Tehran, Iran, on May 19, 2017. Picture by Farzaneh Khademian/ABACAPRESS.COM. All rights reserved. What comes to mind when thinking of Iranian women? Oppressed, covered head to toe and confined to the home? These stereotypes, however, are far from the real life of women in Iran. Iranian women have dominated the universities for the past 15 years or so, and are becoming more involved in the political process and decision-making. But despite their considerable achievements in higher education, women are facing major obstacles to find a job. Only 17 percent of women were able to secure a job and no more than 5.8 percent (17 out of 290), the highest percentage since the 1979 revolution, found their ways into Iranian parliament. Women are barred from becoming president and are largely excluded from the key positions in the government. Such discriminatory acts have placed Iran at the bottom of the World Economic Forum’s 2015 Global Gender Gap ranking (141 out of 145).
Yet there are indications that the situation could change for Iranian women who have never given up their hopes in the face of numerous social, familial, and economic obstacles. Before and after the 1979 revolution they have worked hard towards improving the status of women and human rights. To that end, Iranian women have seized every single opportunity that has come along. The unprecedented participation of women in the city and village councils is the result of their persistence to play an active role in the society.
The number of women elected in the 2006 city and village councils was 1,491. In 2013 this number quadrupled to 6,092. Women constituted only 6.3 per cent of candidates who registered for 2017’s city and village councils elections (17,885 women versus 269,540 men). Notwithstanding their marginal participation, there has been a steady increase in the number of women who registered and elected in the city and village councils elections since its inauguration in 1998. This could be promising for the further participation of women in the labour force, political process and decision-making.
