Iran’s Islamic system losing grip over women

Says the head of a notary office in northern Teheran: It’s the end of the world – women just pour into my office to get divorced, and don’t even shed a tear. The men just stand by with a dumb look and wet eyes.

The clergy has further complained about the actions of family courts which have to be attended for divorce proceedings before referring to notary offices.

Family courts are supposed to encourage the couples to get reconciled – not push them towards the notary office for final divorce, saidone member of the clergy who admitted his notary office had more divorce than marriage cases.

He added: Not just here but in other Teheran notary offices, too, women are giving away their alimony and even paying their share of notary charges – and leaving the offices with a smile, while the men stay on, grouching like old women about their ex-wives.

Iran’s statistics and registration organisation announced last year in its latest survey that the Islamic state faces an increased divorce rate of more than nine per cent, while marriages have increased by only four per cent. The main reason is economy, the sociologist said. Because of economic hardships after the revolution, the basic philosophy of women remaining as housewives has virtually diminished, with both sides forced to work. The number of female graduates and new female students has drastically increased, and more and more women have begun occupying top jobs in public and private companies, and are paid either the same as or in some cases even morethen their husbands.

The sociologist, who is also a university professor, said women’s economic independence had also encouraged them to confront the traditional principle of marriage that the husband is always right.

Shokat, a 32-year old woman from Teheran, has just got divorced in a notary office. She looks stressed but relieved – and her main concern now is when she will get the final divorce papers.

My mother couldn’t stand my father for over 30 years, but she and other women of her generation had nowhere to go and were forced to follow the principle of bearing and burning (suffering), she said. I did the same as I had nowhere to go, either. But just recently I got a prestigious job with good salary – and so I dumped my husband who tyrannised me for over four years. The 47-year-old husband, Safar, who graduated in Germany, said: The Islamic system is in favour of men, that’s correct.

But if in such a system women get a better job and better money than people like me, and leave us whenever lifetreats them tough, what good is this support then?

Iranian civil law on divorce is very short and very clear: Men can divorce their wives any time they want. Unlike men, women have in principle no legal right to divorce without their husband’s approval.

Several efforts to change this law, especially by female activists, have proved futile owing to the law’s strict Islamic nature.

Iran’s civil code also automatically grants custody of children to the father, or in case of their death, to the grandfather. The mother comes third – but only after a male judge declares her as fit.