The Temporary Wife: Luca and Valentina's Story: 2 (The Windsors)

Product Information

Note- Women, who appear in public places and roads without wearing an Islamic hijab, shall be sentenced to ten days to two months’ imprisonment or a fine of fifty thousand to five hundred Rials.’ [footnote 102] An article in IranWire, dated February 2020, considered ‘One of the main reasons for the prevalence of child and forced marriages in Iran is the poverty and economic desperation of poor and large families. Marrying daughters means lowering family costs. Studies show that the greater the economic prosperity and the higher the level of welfare, the lower the rate of forced marriages.’ [footnote 143] Freedom House stated in its annual 2020 Freedom in the World Report that ‘Women do not enjoy equal rights in divorce and child custody disputes.’ [footnote 49] The CHRI added ‘Figures published in January 2020 by the state-owned Pupils Association News Agency, PANA, show that 17,486 girls between ages of 10 and 14 got married in the first six months of the Iranian year 1397 (March 21, 2018-March 20, 2019) – that was seven percent of all marriages in Iran during that period.’ [footnote 168] Furthermore, ‘… according to the Statistical Center of Iran’s quarterly report for Spring 1399 (March 21, 2020 – June 20, 2020), there were 7,323 marriages registered during this period with girls aged 10 to 14 years, up from 5,968 in the winter and 6,210 in the fall.’ [footnote 169] 6.5 Effects of child marriage Some sources put the number of child marriages much higher. For example, the Iran Human Rights Monitor (Iran HRM) stated there were 234,000 registered marriages of girls under the age of 15 in 2017 [footnote 160]. In 2019, BBC Monitoring and the Iran HRM cited the state-run daily newspaper, Entekhab, which stated that, according to Ali Kazemi, advisor to the legal deputy of the judiciary branch, 500,000 to 600,000 girl-child marriages were registered in Iran each year [footnote 161] [footnote 162]. The sources did not state the ages at which the children married.

The Constitution of Iran guarantees all citizens the right to seek justice and to receive legal aid and advice. However, cultural factors often form barriers to women’s opportunities to seek and get justice. As Iran’s legislation is based on Islamic criteria that discriminate against women, men rule the justice system. Studies on the subject reveal that women have a negative attitude towards the justice system and their opportunities of getting justice through the system. Taking domestic violence cases to court is seen as shameful, which is why only few cases ever go that far. The formal justice system is therefore not enough of a guarantee of an individual’s rights, taking into account the underlying customs and sociocultural norms.According to the social worker Z. Mousavi, changing the law will not prevent child marriages alone. She says many child marriages are not registered until the girl reaches the legal age. “Traditional families are more mindful of religious aspects of the marriage,” she says. “As long as the religious ceremony is done, they do not care if it’s registered or not. The marriage is registered after the girl reaches the legal age and by then the court and the judge’s permission become irrelevant.” If a woman or girl can show she will be forced to marry then this would amount to persecution, but the onus is on her to show she would be forced into marriage against her will on return to Iran. According to the figures in the above table, there were 4,507,829 marriages in total registered between 2012 and 2018, and the total number of girl-child (aged under 15) marriages was 234,438 (approximately 5% of all marriages). The report added that Iran’s ‘construction of gender roles and the patriarchal control of women have produced a [legal] framework that demands women’s obedience to their husbands and has its roots in the idea of male superiority and female inferiority. It clearly insists on roles and expectations based on gender stereotypes, and results in the economic, social and political predominance of men and dependency of women.’ [footnote 89] The IHRDC noted, however, that, ‘… legal inequalities do not solely originate from deficiencies in laws, but also from social customs and traditions that retain the bias of pre-modern and patriarchal social systems.’ [footnote 90]

Article 1130 of the Civil Code states ‘In the following circumstances, the wife can refer to the Islamic judge and request for a divorce. When it is proved to the Court that the continuation of the marriage causes difficult and undesirable conditions, the judge can for the sake of avoiding harm and difficulty compel the husband to, divorce his wife. If this cannot be done, then the divorce will be made on the permission of the Islamic judge.’ [footnote 54] The USSD’s Bureau of Consular Affairs provided details of marriage certificates (Sanad-e aghd, Sanad Sanad-e ezdevaj) and divorce certificates (Sanad-e Talagh), including a description of the documents, issuing authority and the procedure for obtaining such certificates [footnote 82]. The USSD also noted ‘In addition to marriages and divorces having their own documentation, the information should also be recorded in both parties’ shenasnameh (birth certificate) documents.’ [footnote 83]The Middle East Institute (MEI), a US-based think tank, reported in March 2020 on the position of women in Iran: Although prepared for the academic year 2000-1, an essay prepared by Sen McGlinn under the supervision of Léon Buskens (lecturer on anthropology and Islamic law at the faculties of Humanities and Law of Leiden University in the Netherlands [footnote 11]), for the paper on ‘Islamic Family Law’ continues to provide relevant information. The essay provided a comprehensive overview of family law in Iran (hereafter, the Family Law in Iran paper) and referred to other schools of Islam:

RFERL noted ‘According to the bill, the judiciary will be tasked with setting up and sponsoring offices that provide support for women who suffer some type of violence or who are susceptible to violence. The bill also requires the establishment of special police units to ensure the safety of women.’ [footnote 80]

Support in the form of social emergency centres, health and safe houses exist although these places are poorly resourced, are not present throughout the whole country, are rare in rural areas and tend to focus on reconciliation. Given that some women require the permission of a male guardian to leave the home alone, access to such services may be limited (see Support services and Cultural and societal attitudes towards women).