Women make up 70% of those who lost their jobs in Iran during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Women are the prime victims of the unemployment crisis in Iran, Eassa Mansouri, the Deputy Minister of Labor acknowledged without offering any solutions or a practical support. Instead, he laid emphasis on the policy of marginalization of women which is already in force, by saying: “We can create jobs for them by taking advantage of facilities for working at home.” (The state-run Rahbord Mo’aser, December 26, 2020)
According to the statistics provided by the Labor Ministry some 62 percent of individuals employed in recent years have not had any insurance.
Population of working women in Iran reduced by 1 million
The economic consequences of the Coronavirus show that women were hurt more during the pandemic than men were. This is because working women in Iran have lower income, less savings and no job support, and more of them have unstable jobs.
Studies show that more women are employed in the service sector than men. Therefore, they have endured greater harm during the Coronavirus pandemic.
Hair dressers, women who work in food shops, hotels and halls, or women who give services to schools and kindergartens, are among those women who have been greatly impacted after the outbreak of the Coronavirus and its economic consequences.
Some women were also laid off due to recession of the job market and shutdown of some businesses.
“Women’s employment was reduced by 749,000 individuals in spring 2020, compared to the same time last year,” said Alaeddin Asvaji, general director of the office of policy-making and expansion of employment in the Labor Ministry. He added, “Another 120,000 women lost their jobs from spring to summer 2020. These statistics show how much the outbreak of the Coronavirus has impacted women’s employment.”
Women take resort to daily rate jobs
Many women work as daily rate workers in the business of distribution of clothes. Day rate workers do not enjoy contracts or insurance, including unemployment insurance. These women say they do not enjoy any support and they just struggle to make ends meet.
Under the corrupt regime of the mullahs, there are no proper supervision over salesclerks and they do not have any associations or unions, or any institution to defend their rights. So daily rate jobs have become a routine practice. Women, and particularly the women heads of household have become the prime victims of the cycle of the Coronavirus outbreak and economic stringency. (The state-run ILNA news agency – December 7, 2020)
One of the women who has recently lost her job in the distribution of clothes, says, “For months, I worked as a daily rate worker in a store selling manteaux in downtown Tehran. I got paid based on the number of manteaux I sold to people. The employer also gave me a part of his profit, but I did not have a written contract or insurance. I have been working in the past several years in shops selling women’s clothing, but I have never had insurance.”
The condition of women workers, particularly that of women heads of households, is cause of great concern as the clerical regime does not offer any solution for the economic crisis and spreading unemployment.
