Bulletin de liaison et d'information - Institut kurde de Paris

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WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 24,2001
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Student leaders outside Parliament in Tehran on Tuesday protesting prison sentences for five Iranians who
attended a seminar in Berlin on Iran's reform movement. About 10 lawmakers spoke with the protesters.
Iran Vetoes Study Abroadfor
By Geneive Abdo
Il1Iernational Herald Tribune
discrimination in nearly all aspects of
life. Female doctors often receive inferior
medical education. Women still
face enormous obstacles in initiating divorce
proceedings against their husbands
and winning custody of their chil-
TEHRAN - Hopes among Iranian
women wishing to attend universities
abroad have been dashed, after a body of
conservative clerics and jurists vetoed dren. To initiate a divorce, a woman
legislation passed by the Parliament that
wQuld have lifted a 20-year-old ban.
must prove her husband is insane, poses
her physical harm, or refuses her sex.
The Guardian Council, which is Husbands and fathers are legally the
charged with deciding whether legislation keepers of women's passports. And at
conforms with Islamic law, vetoed the bill
last week. The reversal was the latest in a
series of failed attempts by the Parliament
to give more rights to women.
Currently, the law requires women to
obtain permission from their husbands
or brothers before studying abroad -
and that is often denied because of reluctance
home, women are still forced into traditional
roles, whether they have careers
or not.
Fatimeh Haqiqatjoo, 32, a newly elected
deputy who proposed the legislation,
also introduced a bill to raise the official
age before a girl can be married off by her
family. The minimum age now is 9, but
to allow women to travel she believes it should be 15.The Guardian
alone.
Council also vetoed that bill, saying it was
Since the 1979. Islamic Revolution, un-Islamic.
more women attend universities in Iran "The Guardian Council can't continue
than ever before and more women have
acting like this," said the deputy,
joined the work force. There are II female
sitting in the Iranian Parliament recently.
deputies in the 290-seat Parliament. "It will eventually face public pres-
And unlike some women in some sure."
Muslim countries, Iranian women have She said she would not give up the
the right to vote and drive cars. fight to protect adolescent girls from
But Iranian women still face profound being married at an early age.
Women
"We should care about the health of
the family, and I believe marriage in
adolescence will cause an identity
crisis," she said. "Marriage is a new
stress in life and we should increase the
age of marriage. ' ,
Traditionalist clerics cite religious
edicts to support their stance against
allowing women to study abroad or raising
the legal age for marriage. But moderate
clerics are joining in the struggle
for women' s liberation.
A senior theologian, Ayatollah Josef
Sanei, issued afatwa last year saying that
a woman should be allowed to run for
president. Itcalled for giving women the
right to initiate divorce and granting her
custody for her children more easily.
The Iranian government often boasts
that women have achieved vast gains
since the revolution. But compared with
some predominantly Muslim countries,
Iran lags behind.
In Egypt, for example, a law was
approved last year granting women the
right to divorce in family courts within
three months after marriage if they return
their dowry and other gifts from
their husbands and waive their right to
alimony.
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