Addressing
Problems of Women and Girls
Iran
Report
August
21, 2000
A recent study by sociology professor Manuchehr Mohseni
found that 53 percent
of Iranian girls would rather be
boys, "Kar Va
Kargar" reported on 20 August. Orumieh
parliamentarian
Shahrbanu Amani said on 9 August that the
majority of Tehran's
25,000 street children are female
teenagers, IRNA
reported the next day. And the Interior
Ministry is trying to
control the movements of young
Iranian females who
reportedly travel to Arab Persian
Gulf states to seek
work and are misled into
prostitution, "Jomhuri-yi
Islami" reported on 8 August,
according to DPA news
agency. The women are examined upon
their return to Iran,
and if their "immoral activities"
are proven, they are
not allowed to leave the country
again.
Meanwhile, the parliament approved "generalities" of a
bill amending the
legally permissible age of marriage,
according to IRNA.
Currently, nine-year old girls can
marry, but under the
new bill, only girls aged 14 or
older and boys over 17
can marry without the court's
authorization.
The efforts to increase the age of marriage caused heated
debate in the
parliament, but observers are undecided
about the relevance of the issue.