US embassy cable - 05ANKARA1570

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ANKARA 001570 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM, PGOV, CVIS, IR 
SUBJECT: WOMEN'S ISSUES IN IRAN 
 
1.  SUMMARY.  Interviews with several Iranian women active on 
women's issues from across the political spectrum offered a mixed 
perspective on the status of women in Iran.  Both conservative 
leaders of women's NGOs and other working women discussed the 
need for greater independence for Iranian women.  The assumptions 
underlying what independence means and how to achieve it, 
however, varied greatly.  Conservatives focused primarily on 
providing women with greater access to education or strengthening 
their role in the family, while more liberal women were more 
interested in using their education in the workplace.  NGOs 
interested in advancing women's rights have found a niche in 
Iran, working primarily to equalize access to education and 
health care for rural women, but face skepticism from urban, 
educated women due to the limited scope of their actions.  END 
SUMMARY. 
 
-------------------------------------------- 
NGO LEADERS - LITTLE DISSENT FROM STATUS QUO 
-------------------------------------------- 
 
2. In February, Conoff interviewed several Iranian women 
representing NGOs seeking to attend the 49th Meeting of the UN 
Commission on Women taking place in New York February 28 - March 
11, 2005.  Based on these interviews, the women's NGO sector in 
Iran appears quite active, although narrowly focused.  The NGOs 
primarily conduct research or offer small-scale classes in basic 
education, child care, and health care.  Few provide social 
services directly, or financial support to women.  While the NGO 
leaders are dependent to some extent on the government - the GOI 
organized participation in the conference and informed NGO 
representatives when they could apply for a visa - the small NGOs 
stated that they received little support or information from the 
government.  For example, most asked Conoff who else (from the 
Iranian government and the NGO community) was attending the 
conference.  They all conduct much of their work over the 
Internet, and are very interested in interacting with women 
outside Iran (although primarily with other Muslim women). 
 
3. When asked about the difficulties facing women in Iran today, 
the NGO leaders spoke with a common voice in praise of the 
Islamic republic for increasing women's representation within the 
political system and access to education for women.  They 
measured the success of the revolution and Islamic Republic 
through the increased representation of women in scientific and 
medical fields in universities and the addition of a women's 
bureau to the Ministry of Interior. 
 
4. On the conservative end of the spectrum were two women 
representing small NGOs, one a teacher of religion and law in 
Qom, the other an Arabic teacher from Tehran. They described 
their main goal (working through their NGOs) as making women 
truly independent.  Although the first form of independence they 
mentioned centered on social issues such as improved access to 
health care, education, and work opportunities, they were more 
focused on individual independence achieved through wearing the 
hejab.  They stated that women gained respect and security by 
wearing the hejab, thereby allowing them to move freely 
throughout society. 
 
5. The Managing Director of the Institute for Women's Studies and 
Research described her NGO as the oldest in Iran, conducting 
research over the past fifteen years.  It holds classes on a 
variety of issues from HIV/AIDS to violence against women, and 
developed a women's studies curriculum for Iranian universities. 
She noted that the NGO sector in Iran began to thrive after 
Khatemi, but spoke mostly in generalities about how a society 
cannot survive if it does not take advantage of the resources of 
half the population (i.e. women). 
 
6. Although this Institute publishes Zan-e Farzaneh, the first 
women's studies journal in Iran, she did not mention that its 
editor Mahboubeh Abbasgholizadeh had been arrested in November 
2004 when asked about any troubles her NGO faced.  She did note 
that the problem facing women today is what to do after they've 
received their education - employment options are lacking due to 
a poor economy and traditional attitudes about who should receive 
scarce jobs.  Her husband would not allow her to travel alone to 
the United States - he applied for a visa to accompany her. 
 
7. A woman working as an expert in the education and training 
division of the women's rights section of the Ministry of 
Interior claimed the status of women improved substantially after 
the revolution because it created common standards among the 
different provinces of Iran.  She praised what she described as 
an affirmative action system to promote women into management 
positions within the government.  She was hopeful that some day a 
woman would be able to run for president, but did not believe it 
would happen soon.  Unique among her colleagues, she was 
interested in learning more about women's rights in the United 
States.  She was supportive, but skeptical of the women's NGO 
community, stating that there were only a few effective Iranian 
NGOs.  She cited presidential advisor Maryam Shojaei's Center for 
Women's Participation as leading among them, but stated that some 
NGOs that provided rural education were also useful. 
 
8. The head of one such rural education NGO stated that the 
biggest problem she faces is improper education.  Her NGO 
provides primary education to children, health and parenting 
education to mothers, and in-kind aid to poor women in Hamedan 
and the surrounding villages.  She stated that she did not have 
any problems operating her NGO, but complained that she received 
no government support.  She stated that the government subsidy to 
poor women is paltry, and requests by her NGO for other aid such 
as meeting space received no response. 
 
------------------------------- 
WORKING WOMEN SEEK INDEPENDENCE 
------------------------------- 
 
9. Other Iranian women interviewed in a similar time frame 
expressed similar overall goals to the NGO leaders, but less 
satisfaction with the status quo.  A 24-year-old artist from 
Tehran stated that the most significant problem facing Iranian 
women was freedom of thought, but also freedom of daily life. 
She stated that more women are studying in university and 
marrying later not because of cultural change, but because so 
many men had died during the Iran-Iraq war or had emigrated. 
Coming from a wealthy family, she is able to pursue her career as 
an artist (her parents created a studio for her and sponsored 
private exhibitions - since she paints figurative representations 
of women she cannot exhibit in public), but most women can only 
stay at home after finishing university.  She was familiar with 
several women's NGOs working in Iran, but stated that since they 
offer little direct support, they had little effect. 
 
10. A 44-year-old chemical engineer working for the National 
Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) was very frustrated about the 
employment options for women.  She stated that it is rare now for 
women to find jobs working for NIOC, and no high positions are 
available to women.  She noted that the fact that many men had 
been promoted above her at work was a common problem - since so 
few jobs are available, they tend to go to heads of households, 
and men still have more of the informal connections that lead to 
promotion. 
 
11. A 27-year-old "cultural expert" working for the Culture and 
Tourism ministry identified most strongly with the reformists. 
She stated that the situation of women depended primarily on 
their family.  She said freedom for women improved dramatically 
under Khatemi, but she seemed doubtful about continued change. 
She said someone would need to rein in the conservatives in 
parliament, and was interested in hearing what precisely the US 
would do to support the reformers. 
 
12. Although none of these women wore the hejab, none mentioned 
it as a problem.  The artist said that the hejab now is very 
relaxed, but that she avoids wearing it by spending most of her 
time indoors. 
 
------- 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
13. Although these women came from different political 
perspectives, all - conservative and liberal - identified similar 
problems facing Iranian women.  Each stated that the primary 
problem facing women in Iran was freedom of thought.  Some 
identified this with a lack of education; others stated more 
explicitly that women were not thinking of themselves as equals 
to men, and were denying themselves opportunities.  Freedom 
within the family, economic opportunity and violence against 
women were also mentioned as problems, but all were secondary to 
the opinion that women in Iran still need to think of themselves 
as independent. 
 
14. Behind this uniformity of purpose lie different assumptions 
and ultimate goals.  Even conservatives tout the rhetoric of 
women's liberation, but face skepticism from young professionals. 
On the other hand, the social reforms (such as the relaxed hejab) 
established under Khatemi do seem to have met the minimum present 
requirements of politically active women living in Iran.  If the 
goal of women's rights activists in Iran is greater freedom of 
thought, the classes provided by NGOs are a step in the right 
direction.  But until these NGOs begin to address the concerns of 
their natural constituency - Iran's urban elite women - their 
effectiveness will remain limited. 
 
EDELMAN