On International Women’s Day, which was Monday, the Women’s Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran published their Annual Report on the lives of women in Iran, including the struggles they face to have their basic rights respected. Here, we will focus on the main takeaways.
COVID-19
As with most of the world, the coronavirus has drastically impacted women’s rights, especially in the fields of employment, healthcare, and childcare. The NCRI highlighted that, as of publishing the report, there had been at least 230,000 coronavirus deaths and the country was in its fourth wave, but still the mullahs were banning the import of vaccines and promising to start vaccinating everyone in 2022.
Poverty
The Iranian economy is floundering and millions are in poverty, which has led to such shocking instances as parents selling their vital organs – including hearts – to put food on the table for their families, even if it means their death.
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Some parents have even died from suicide along with their children because of poverty and women are more likely to be impoverished than men because their jobs are less secure and they’re more likely to be taking time off for childcare.
Protests
Women have been at the forefront of the five major protests over the past four years and that shows no sign of letting up. The NCRI Women’s Committee said that these “courageous women” provided a “beacon of hope in the dark of the night” and gave them “great hope for change” in spite of the misery inflicted by the mullahs.
Throughout the past year, the mothers of execution victims and those who died in the Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) downing of the Ukrainian Airliner in January 2020, remained active in their quest for justice, which brought hope over the prosecution of Iran’s leaders. In addition, women were also the leading voices at protests by workers, retirees, and defrauded investors.
The NCRI Women’s Committee wrote: “We hope to have brought to light the most crucial issues concerning Iranian women, namely the Iranian regime’s brutal attempt to suppress all and every voice of freedom, the various aspects of violence against women both sponsored by the state or promoted by state laws and policies, and the whopping gender gap in Iran as a result of gender discrimination in all fields.”
