The Plight Of Azerbaijani Women Light-Years Ahead Of Iranian Women

While only six percent of the Iranian Parliament is female, thus depriving women from having much of a voice in Iran’s political future, Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev has such a high esteem of women that he decided to make his wife the First Lady Mehriban Aliyeva also the Vice President of the State of Azerbaijan. The head of the Azerbaijani Parliament Sahiba Gafarova is also a woman.  In total, 18% of the Azerbaijani Parliament is female, which is a much higher percentage than what exists in neighboring Iran.

Last December, Iran was removed from the UN Commission on Women by a majority of 29, with only 8 members voting against and 16 abstaining. This came after the UN released a report describing Iranian women and girls as treated “like second class citizens,” due to the widespread child marriage of girls between age 10 and 14, weak protections against domestic violence and the lack of legal autonomy for women. 

For example, in Iran, it is legal for a man to marry up to four women, but a woman can only marry one man. A woman must have her male guardian’s permission to marry, either from her father or grandfather, but a man does not need to ask anyone’s permission to marry.   

A married woman cannot travel outside of Iran without her husband’s permission, but a married man can go wherever he desires under Iranian law. Under Iranian law, a divorced woman forfeits the custody of her child if she remarries, even if her ex-husband is dead, but not a divorced man. And in Iran, a widow only inherits one eighth of her husband’s estate, but a widower inherits his late wife’s entire estate. These are but a few examples of the gender apartheid that exists in the Islamic Republic of Iran.