Using a Design Solution to Bring Gender Equality to Iran

For many young woman and girls who were born in the Middle East, their man is the owner of their life and their future. Changing this attitude and bringing about gender equality to give girls the ability to decide their marital status, job status and place of residence is no simple task.

In Iran, based on the constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran, girls cannot get married without their father’s official consent. Moreover, according to official statistics, forced marriage is usually applied by the individual’s parents and guardians. Some factors and reasons behind forced marriage include designating a special person to marry a child because of the parents’ self-interest, rising age of marriage, expediency of marriage, as well as poverty and the need for financial security. Moreover, in 5.5% of Iranian marriages, the brides are below age 15 and forced by their fathers to marry older men (ISNA News Agency, 2018). After marriage, based on the constitution, woman still cannot decide their future. Indeed, the husband is the owner of the wife. Therefore, a woman can work or leave the country of her residence only with her husband’s official consent. These conditions violate the gender equality for 83 million people in Iran (Tasnim, 2019)

Adapting the constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran and informing people about their right and gender equality, and also changing their mindset about family ownership can be the way to turn this catastrophic situation around. But what does the path of bringing gender equality in Iran looks like? And who should be leading to change?

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were developed at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio de Janeiro in 2012. The objective was to produce a set of universal goals that meet the urgent environmental, political and economic challenges facing our world. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015, provides a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future. At its heart are the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, which are an urgent call for action by all countries – developed and developing – in a global partnership. They recognize that ending poverty and other deprivations must go hand-in-hand with strategies that improve health and education, reduce inequality, and spur economic growth – all while tackling climate change and working to preserve our oceans and forests. (SDGs, n.d.)

The fifth Sustainable Development Goals 2030 is Gender Equality. Based on this goal “ending all discrimination against women and girls is not only a basic human right, it’s crucial for sustainable future; it’s proven that empowering women and girls helps economic growth and development.”Gender equality goal aims to end all forms of discrimination against all women and girls. Furthermore, it has targeted on eliminating all harmful practices, such as child, early and forced marriage. Moreover, gender equality ensures women’s full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership at all levels of decision-making in political, economic and public life. (SDGs, n.d.)

Due to the problems that have existed concerning gender inequality in Iran and on the other hand “Gender Equality” as one of the Sustainable Development Goals, it seems that we have found a concrete way to alter or at least improve the gender inequality situation of in Iran.

Applying the fifth goal of SDGs in Iran

Implementing gender equality declaration and Improving it has many positive impacts on individuals and also on the society at large. To change the current situation of Iranian woman and achieve gender equality targets in Iran we have the world’s Sustainable Development plan. Furthermore, we need the contribution of different parties in Iran to achieve the goal. Indeed, everyone is needed to reach these ambitious targets. The creativity, know-how, technology and financial resources from all of society is necessary to achieve the SDGs in every context. With a focus on the gender equality goal, if SDGs would have been applied in Iran, we achieve many benefits. For instance, the achievement of equality between women and men as partners cause to beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action and peace, security and mental well-being.

By looking at the Sustainable Development plan as a universal call, its importance, the benefits of it and its results on the various nations, we can be confident that implementing and achieving this plan’s targets will help Iranian people especially women. Furthermore, by striving to address the identified gaps in gender inequality, Iran would have been focused on issues like improving women and youth participation in decision making as well as creating equal employment opportunities for all Iranians. But how does Iran’s contribution to fulfilling its commitment to gender equality plan looks like? Have they been successful so far?

There is a problem 

In September 2015, the UN General Assembly presented the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development to 245 states including Iran. Based on the document all of the nations which have participated in this program must ensure inclusive and quality education for all and promote lifelong learning for everyone, regardless of gender, ethnicity or age, by the year 2030. Indeed, education on gender equality and human rights is also one of the educational topics of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. On September 2015, Iran president accepted to join this universal call and adapt changes in the educational system. (Alipour, 2018).

However, after that leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei strongly criticized the cabinet’s adoption of the UN-devised global education agenda – saying documents founded on “corrupt and devastating Western lifestyle” are unacceptable in Islamic Iran. Furthermore, he states that “This is the Islamic Republic of Iran, and in this country, Islam and the Quran are the base. It is not a place for infiltration of the flawed, devastating and corrupt Western lifestyle.” Moreover, he blamed the Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution for careless handling of this case so that the Leader himself now has to get involved and oppose it. Consequently, moving toward quality education and lifelong learning which has to be led to achieve not only gender equality, but also other targets have so far neither been approved by the Supreme Council of Cultural Revolution nor become law. (Alipour, 2018).

The government in Iran does not want to address the problem of gender inequality in society and woman life. As I mentioned at the beginning the path of bringing gender equality in Iran is no simple task and Iran have not been successful in this way so far. Who should be leading to change and who is responsible now that we are disappointed with the performance of the Iranian government in the path of bringing gender equality in Iran? what can be a design solution to unravel this concrete issue?

Design a Solution

We have seen that there is a problem of gender inequality in Iran and that the government does not want to contribute to solving this problem. We therefore need a plan that does not require government assistance. To help people in this way, we need a plan to educate them about human rights, gender equality, the benefits of woman empowerment and change their mindset. Moreover, we must inform people about the importance of the right to choose and to be elected and its life-long benefits. Additionally, in the age of digitalization, one of the best tools to inform people and educate them about a topic is social media. In short, educating Iranian people through social media is the most concrete solution meanwhile.

Currently, there are many online articles, case studies and books about gender equality and human rights on the Internet. However, the content of these sources can be useful and understandable mostly for educated people. Moreover, most of them are not Farsi. Consequently, to educate Iranian people we need to produce content about gender equality, tailored to different people’s generation in Iran and also in their language.

The first step to produce educational content would be finding reliable resources and literature which are mostly related to gender equality. After that, we need to translate them to Farsi and cluster the gathered information. Moreover, it required to put inputs in different frames which each of them is appropriate for teenagers, young people, parents and old generation. The next step is to record the collected content in the most influential way such as video, picture, podcast or other visualization formats. Afterwards, the produced content can be released on the Internet and the most accessible media in Iran such as Instagram. Furthermore, it is essential to keep the content updated and motivate people to keep their learning contributions. All in all, this way of education can help Iranian women to know their rights and ask for it. Moreover, Iranian men might reconsider their attitudes and give the right of decision making to the woman regardless of the Islamic constitution in the country.

Sources:

Alipour, Z. (2018, April 11). The teaching of gender equality sparks infighting in Iran. Retrieved March 17, 2020, from https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2017/06/iran-unesco-2030-education-plan-rouhani-criticism.html

ISNA News Agency. (2018, December 29). اینفوگرافی / آمار ازدواج کودکان در ایران. Retrieved March 17, 2020, from https://www.isna.ir/news/97100804278/اینفوگرافی-آمار-ازدواج-کودکان-در-ایران

SDGs .:. Sustainable Development Knowledge Platform. (n.d.). Retrieved March 17, 2020, from https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdgs

Tasnim. (2019, June 15). اعلام “وضعیت قرمز” ازدواج و طلاق در کشور جداول آماری- اخبار اجتماعی – اخبار تسنیم. Retrieved March 17, 2020, from https://www.tasnimnews.com/fa/news/1398/03/25/2031804/اعلام-وضعیت-قرمز-ازدواج-و-طلاق-در-کشور-جداول-آماری

Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash