Scientific life. Congresses, conferences, and symposia

An international conference on the status of women in the Islamic Republic of Iran was held in 2005. It was organized by the Iran Sector of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Cultural Center at the Embassy of Iran in the Russian Federation. At the opening of the conference, deputy speakers included: V. M. Alpatov, Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Women, Family and Youth Affairs of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Fraltsova, Ambassador of Iran to Moscow Gholam Reza Shafei, head of the Cultural Center of Iran in Moscow Mehdi Imanipour, President of the Russian-Iranian Friendship Society V. B. Ivanov. The conference was attended by scientists from the centers of Oriental studies in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kazan, Yekaterinburg, Novosibirsk, Astrakhan, and Dagestan.

Most of the reports were devoted to the analysis of women's rights in Iran and their position in the current structure of Iranian society. The speeches also focused on the peculiarities of historical and religious traditions concerning women, the analysis of women's images in cultural works, in films, the contribution of women to the development of certain branches of science and culture, the education system and health care.

G. Shafei gave a general description of the status of women in modern Iran, both in political and economic aspects. He also dwelled on the participation of women in the 1978 - 1979 revolutionary movement, noting that their activity did not decrease in the following years, as it is women who make up the most active part of the Iranian electorate.

Mehdi Imanipour's report was devoted to women's constitutional rights. In particular, he noted that the equality of men and women, for example in England, a country with the oldest democratic traditions, was recognized only at the beginning of the XX century, and the principles of human rights were provided for in Islam 14 centuries ago. The issue of women's rights is reflected in the modern Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran. According to article 20 of the Constitution, all citizens of the country, both men and women, are protected by the law and enjoy all humanitarian, economic, social and cultural rights in compliance with Islamic norms. Article 21 of the Constitution states that " the government is obliged, taking into account Islamic norms, to guarantee the observance of women's rights in all spheres, to create favorable conditions for the development of a woman's personality and the revival of her material and spiritual rights; to support a woman-mother, especially during pregnancy and lactation, to organize special insurance for widows and the elderly, single women; in the absence of a legitimate breadwinner, entrust custody of children to worthy mothers to ensure a happy future for their children." The Mejlis decided to grant custody of children under the age of seven (regardless of gender) exclusively to mothers.

N. M. Mammadova (IB RAS) noted in her speech that the participation of women, who make up 49.3% of the population, in economic development is a multidimensional concept. It can't always be categorized and measured in a separate way. For example, the role of women in the family is not only a socio-social category, but also, of course, an economic one. But women's full participation in the creation of a national social product is not measured. The new methodology for calculating the most important macroeconomic indicators, introduced into the world practice since 1993, concerning the conditional assessment of services rendered by farm owners to themselves, is extremely difficult, and such data are not available in Iranian statistics. But it can be assumed that this volume is quite significant, since 44% of the total working-age population of Iran are women who run a household.

It is impossible to talk about the role of women in the economy without touching upon the issue of women's education, especially given that the Iranian leadership believes that improving the level of education is the most important factor for sustainable economic development in the XXI century. The most generalized indicator that characterizes both the educational coverage of the female population and its place in society is the level of literacy. The literacy gap between men and women is rapidly narrowing. Before the revolution (1976), the proportion of literates among men was 38.2%, among women - 28.6%, the gap was almost 10%. In 1996.

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the literacy rate among men has risen to 69.2%, among women-to 64.7%, and the gap has narrowed to 4.5%, i.e. more than twice. In 1998/99, out of 638.9 thousand university students, 267.7 thousand were women; in addition, 44.9% of students at the Free University were women. Women make up the main contingent of students of the Anti-Illiteracy Movement's courses. The majority of course teachers are also women (30.5 thousand out of 42.2). Among school teachers, the share of women is also high - up to 47%.

The participation of women in the country's economy is evidenced by the use of women's labor in various sectors of the national economy. In the first years after the Islamic Revolution, the number of employed women decreased from 15.1% of the total number of employed in 1976 to 8.9% in 1986, and the share of employed women of working age (over 10 years) decreased from 13 to 6.3%. As a result, the share of the amateur female population decreased from 17 to 9%. However, during the period of economic liberalization, the situation in the labor market and in the structure of the female population began to change in a positive direction. In 2000, the number of self-employed women almost doubled, while unemployment among them decreased from 1.6% in 1986 (before the revolution-3.6%) to 1.4%, employment increased from 6.3% to 13.2%, exceeding the pre-revolutionary level. The share of women in the household-only population began to decline (from 73% in 1976 and 71.3% in 1986 to 58% in 2000). The growth in the number of women engaged in education was particularly large : from 6.5% in 1976 to 11.8% in 1986 and to 21.8% in 2000 d. Women make up a significant proportion of the workforce in various industries. However, they are most significantly represented in the health sector, where they account for more than 39% of all employed people, and especially in education, where they account for 44.1% of those employed in this sector. It is very significant that women's employment is growing in such industries as manufacturing, where they make up about 23% of all employees.

More than half of the employed women work in the private sector, while the number of entrepreneurs among them is still small - only 3% of the total number of entrepreneurs. But this shows that Iranian women are becoming increasingly involved in the country's economic life.

E. V. Dunayeva (IB RAS) noted that in Iran, women have broad access to education at all levels, including higher education. Various women's counseling centers and psychological assistance centers have been established in the country. The material rights of a woman-wife and mother-are enshrined in the Civil Code. They are based on the traditional norms of Islamic law. Thus, the financial situation of a woman is ensured through dowry, kalym, nafage-funds for the maintenance of her wife and children and the right to inheritance. However, from the point of view of representatives of Western civilization, these rights are significantly limited. For example, when inheriting property, the share of girls is half that of men; a woman who has children receives only 1/8 of the property after her husband's death and does not have the right to inherit land, buildings and plantings. In recent years, in the main legislative body of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the women's faction has made a number of proposals to expand women's rights. The Mejlis adopted an amendment stating that the issue of marriage of a girl under the age of 15 must be approved in a court instance, which can prevent an attempt to forcibly marry off girls.

According to the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Civil Code and the Labor Law, women have equal rights to choose a job with men. The exception is work involving heavy physical labor that is harmful to women's health (Articles 75 and 77 of the Labor Law). A woman's right to choose a job may also be restricted by her husband. If, in his opinion, the wife's work damages the reputation of the family or does not correspond to family values, then the woman should refuse this work. As Islamic jurists explain, this situation does not mean complete control over a woman by her husband, but only demonstrates the importance that is attached to family values within the framework of Islamic culture. However, according to E. V. Dunayeva, there is clearly a discrepancy with Article 40 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran. When considering the situation of women's rights, it is necessary to take into account historical, cultural, religious traditions, the mentality of society, and the needs and interests of Iranian women themselves. And what sometimes seems unacceptable to Europeans (for example, wearing a hijab) can naturally be perceived in Islamic culture. But there is also no doubt that changes in traditional institutions and economic and informational progress will open up more opportunities for achieving genuine equality for women.

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A. I. Polshtsuk (Linguistic University) believes that the former President of Iran SM played an important role in the development of the women's movement. Khatami was still his Minister of Culture. The majority of Iranian women voted for SM. Khatami won the seventh and eighth presidential elections in Iran. In 1997, by his decree, the Women's Participation Center under the President (Markyaz mosharekyat zanan) was established. At the same time, two women were appointed to the posts of assistant and Adviser to the President on women's affairs. The Center participated in the development of the Third Five-Year Plan, and a working group "Women and the Third Five-Year Plan"was established. The Center is the main authority, the "headquarters" of the executive branch in determining the state's policy in the field of women's participation in society, as well as planning, coordinating and monitoring body on all issues related to the status of women in Iran. At the initiative of the Participation Center, various councils, committees and centers were established to address women's issues in Iran, such as the Coordination Council of State Apparatus Representatives, the Committee for the Elimination of Violence against Women, the Girls ' Committee, the Center for Women's Studies and Research, women's Cooperative centers, etc. The Center was directly involved in the establishment of the Department for Women Athletes ' Affairs in the Ministry of Education, as well as committees for women and youth affairs in the provincial centers of Iran.

The peak of women's participation was observed during the elections to the Mejlis of the fifth and sixth convocations, in the first elections to local Islamic councils in early 1999, women accounted for 38% in city councils and 62% in rural ones. However, the participation of women in "big politics" is insignificant and, according to A. I. Polishchuk, is constrained by the presence of traditional views that assign a large role to women only in family education.

Behnaz Ashtari and R. Purselim (both from Iran) drew attention to the fact that during the Islamic Revolution, the perception of the hijab changed: from a sign of backwardness, it turned into a symbol of social significance. In addition to being a symbol of political protest, the hijab helped women realize their individuality, create a certain space around them that is forbidden to others, i.e. it became a means of protecting women. Feeling completely protected, the woman was able to enter the public arena. She believes that the trend towards wearing the hijab is evidence of a change in the psychology of society.

Seyed Kamaleddin Mousavi (Iran) stressed that in Iran, a country with strong patriarchal traditions, men are the central figure of society. The civil law recognizes the husband as the leader of the family (Articles 104, 105). Therefore, it requires the wife's obedience in choosing her citizenship after marriage, the place of residence of the family, the frequency of family sex, the wife's employment outside the home, outside of her family communication (with friends and relatives). In the socio-cultural context, almost the entire territory of family power is given to the husband, and almost the only territory of maneuver of the wife in the family is the care and upbringing of children. The husband's leadership in the family and male manipulation in making major family decisions are stronger in rural environments. However, according to recent opinion polls, the situation in the modern urban family is slowly changing. Young people support the option of joint participation more than other age groups (27.5%). Given the large number of young people in today's Iran (over 20 million people) and the importance of the egalitarian trend in the youth consciousness, we can expect that the degree of flexibility of intra-family power relations will increase over time. Among illiterate respondents, the "husband" option as the head of decision-making in the family is predominant (59.1%), but the higher the level of education of respondents, the fewer supporters of this option (5.1% among people with higher education). Thus, the focus of family decision-making is slowly shifting from the "traditional individual" to the "modern collaborative" model.

E. K. Molchanova (Institute of Linguistics of the Russian Academy of Sciences) devoted her speech to the role of women in science, especially in linguistics, telling about women professors of the University of Tehran, as well as employees of the Academy of Persian Language and Literature. To identify the role of women in preschool education, Ms Kameneva drew not only on statistical data, but also on the results of a survey conducted by an Iranian kindergarten teacher.

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Sergey Druzhilovsky (MGIMO of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs), analyzing the evolution of the Islamic regime's policy on women's issues, noted the undoubted progress in activating women's participation in various spheres of public, political and economic life. At the same time, he drew attention to the fact that some of the branches of science and economics remain closed to women.

The lively discussion, in which T. Kermani (a professor at the University of Tehran and one of the senior managers in the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Orientation of the Islamic Republic of Iran) actively participated, revealed both the relevance of the topic presented at the conference and the need for its further research. The conference participants supported the proposal to take part in research projects on the comparative study of the status of women in Iran, Russia and the CIS countries together with the Institute for the Study of Iran's Relations with Russia, Central Asia and the Caucasus (Tehran).

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