As women rights activist from Iran, I want to express my solidarity with my sisters in Egypt, Tunisia and all countries striving for freedom and equality.
Please allow me to voice the concern of Iranian women about the ever increseanig gender discrimination in Iran and ask the commission for your help in requiring from the Iranian government, a member of the United Nations and a seat-holder on the Commission on the Status of Women, to carry out its commitments and obligations to remove all gender discrimination and inequality and provide women with equal rights in all arenas, especially in regards to education, employment, science , technology and to end violence against girls in Iran.
Please allow me to voice the concern of Iranian women about the ever increseanig gender discrimination in Iran and ask the commission for your help in requiring from the Iranian government, a member of the United Nations and a seat-holder on the Commission on the Status of Women, to carry out its commitments and obligations to remove all gender discrimination and inequality and provide women with equal rights in all arenas, especially in regards to education, employment, science , technology and to end violence against girls in Iran.
For years now, women in Iran have struggled to change these discriminatory laws, laws that give rise to a variety of violence against women and girls. However, the government has thwarted all such efforts by branding women’s issues as political issues and women human rights defenders have been kept under surveillance, arrested, tried and sentenced.
You have heard of Nasrin Stoudeh, a women human rights defender and attorney who has been wrongly imprisoned and subject to harsh conditions and sentenced to eleven years in jail. Alieh Eghdamdoost as an expelled teacher demanding for equal rights for women was arrested and been in jail for the past three years. Similarly, Bahareh Hedayat and Mahdieh Golroo , now behind bars. Their only crime: wanting educational and employment equality and equal access to resources for women. Even mothers who have been inquiring about the where about of their children or opposing of their arrests were themselves harassed, maltreated, arrested and jailed over 100 mothers so far. I should also mention those women in jail for their belief.
In recent years Iranian women had worked very hard with the help of their family, to get admission to universities with the hope that this will help to improve their life and protect them from harms of gender discriminations.
However, anti-women hardliners, worried that highly educated girls will demand gender equality seek to hinder the admission of young women to universities with programs such as;
Lax conformity to dress codes or lack of available dormitory space, applying geo-gender coda.
Literary rate has increased for girls but access to education remains lower and their drop- out rate higher than boys. Child marriage one of the main reasons for girls dropping out of schools is being increasingly promoted by government agencies.
The educational system itself is used to instill and indoctrinate gender discrimination through text books, course content and segregating boys and girls in the education system.
Though women are increasingly interested in joining the workforce, they only constitute 15% of total workers and only occupy the lower echelons of the workforce .For example while women comprise 50% of workers in the field of education very few are in management positions. Anti-women laws and policies –also further reduces work opportunities for women.
Violence against women and girls claims daily victims. Rates of such violence have increased due to denial of such violence by policy makers, and refusal to provide means of identifying violations and supporting the victims has made the situation worse. Furthermore, the government has resisted changing violence engendering laws. Atefeh Sohaleh, a 16 year old girl who since childhood was the victim of poverty, discrimination, patriarchy, and sexual exploitation and finally hanged for "acts incompatible with chastity."
As a U.N and CSW member, Iran is obligated to carry out its commitments to eliminate discrimination against women and girls and also protect women human right defenders. On the contrary we witness an organized efforts against women’s right at all levels and fields.
We ask you, distinguished representatives of U N member states and all representatives of women's movements present at this conference, to hold Iran responsible for carrying out its commitments. This would not only help us women in Iran but it would safeguard the hard won gains of all women's movements throughout the world.
Let us empower the women and girls of Iran from this moment forward.
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