Female farm workers in Khuzestan, southwest Iran, work on a daily wage basis without insurance and with the lowest wages. Some of these women, even at 80 years of age, have been forced to work in the agricultural fields for the past 60 years.
On Saturday, June 15, the regime’s Etemad newspaper reported on the lives and work of female farm workers in Khuzestan province.
They work in the agricultural fields, from young to old and of various ages, in the 40- to 50-degree Celsius heat of Khuzestan without any shade or cool water, and many times they have suffered from heat stroke due to working in high temperatures, requiring medical attention and hospitalization.
One of them is an 80-year-old woman who has been working without insurance for 60 years. According to Etemad, if she had insurance, she would have retired twice by now based on her work experience.
Another woman started working in tomato picking and agriculture at the age of 13. Now, at 40 years old, due to the unemployment of her husband and sons and her daughter’s schooling, she still works out of necessity to make a living and earn an income.
Female workers in Iran face many problems and inequalities, including limited job choices, low wages, workforce downsizing, and poor working conditions.
Despite 42 years since the adoption and implementation of the “Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women” and about 10 years since the adoption of the “2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development,” the Iranian regime has refused to join these two global treaties.
Fatal Accidents for Female Workers
In recent years, numerous reports have been published about the deaths of female tomato-picking workers on their way to work in the southern provinces of Iran.
Female farm workers in Khuzestan province have repeatedly heard news of accidents and the deaths of women on the roads of this province.
Mohammad Mali, a media activist, told Etemad, “Every day, several thousand women travel in this way on unsafe, very narrow, non-standard, and unmarked roads, and they experience accidents, but no one hears about it. Because these women have no voice at all.”
Physical and bodily injuries due to poor work safety conditions in Iran threaten the lives of many workers daily. Ali Ziaei, head of the Crime Scene Investigation Group of the National Forensic Organization, reported in May 2024 that 2,115 workers died and 27,000 were injured due to work-related accidents in 2023.
The state-run ILNA news agency, in a report criticizing the “statistical cover-up by the Ministry of Labor,” wrote that these statistics mean the death of about five workers every day.
Khuzestani female farm workers, who are willing to endure low incomes, the hardship of the road, and agricultural work, face many problems in their lives.
Etemad wrote that the daily working hours are about 11 to 12 hours, and working in unsuitable conditions and environments also causes physical problems for these women.
One of these women told Etemad, “Many of us suffer from herniated discs in our backs and necks because of this work. Some others have developed kidney diseases due to excessive heat and dehydration.”
Most of these women sometimes work in two shifts and may travel the same route twice. If the farm is too far away, they do not return to the village, and the whole group stays there.
They told Etemad that when it comes time to receive their wages, they face excuses from the employers. Some do not have money, and others make full payment of wages conditional on the complete sale of the produce, and if the produce is not sold, they do not get paid at all.
Who Hears the Voices of Thousands of Khuzestani Female Workers?
In another article, Etemad wrote that according to statistics, Khuzestan has more than 35,000 female heads of households, a significant portion of whom work on agricultural lands.
The newspaper wrote that unofficial sources indicate that this number is even higher. According to this report, Dezful county alone has more than 5,000 female workers in the agricultural sector.
They work in labor groups, ranging from teenage girls to elderly women in their 70s, to earn just 200,000 rials (about $3) per day.
Social security insurance experts say that farmer insurance is inexpensive, but according to the law, women cannot be insured as workers. While according to Etemad, female farmers work alongside men but receive only 60% of men’s wages.
According to statistics announced by the financial institutions of the Social Security Research Organization, women comprised 80% of uninsured employees in 2017. On May 23, the Statistical Center of Iran released a summary of the 2023 labor force survey and wrote that during this period, only 3,907,036 women were employed.
