Iran’s Vice Presidency for Women and Family Affairs plans to support female breadwinners nationwide under a project which envisages multilateral support and empowerment of women heads of households.
“The scheme provides for multilateral cooperation among all executive bodies to help women breadwinners through early support in entrepreneurship and employment,” said Vice President Shahindokht Molaverdi.
“The model project was in the making for execution at the national level for a year,” she said on the sidelines of the 9th round of the exhibition ‘Women and National Production’ last week.
Under the project, women will receive training in vocational and technical skills, and they can enter the national production cycle as contributors rather than receiving financial support.
It was piloted last year in Rey County in south Tehran under the name of ‘Rey County Pilot Plan’, and was a major success in developing peer networking and synergy among all executive bodies to empower female breadwinners.
The exhibition, which concluded on September 16 at Goftegoo Park in west Tehran, was organized in cooperation with Tehran Municipality, and showcased products by women entrepreneurs and breadwinners.
Pointing to the event as a successful model in strengthening women breadwinners, Molaverdi said the project to empower female heads of households will also be implemented nationwide in cooperation with the municipalities.
Breadwinners
A separate area at the expo was assigned to 2,700 participating female breadwinners. The goods offered included apparel, accessories, as well as items for Nowruz (Iranian New Year).
In the last fiscal year that ended in March, 5,000 women were trained for occupational skills, namely tailoring, at the Kowsar rehabilitation centers set up by the Tehran Municipality’s Office for Empowerment of Women Breadwinners.
The number of Kowsar centers increased to 140 across the country this year, up from 130 in the previous year, according to office director Fahimeh Firouzgar.
The centers, supervised by the office, provide counseling services as well as vocational training to female breadwinners to enable them to join the national production cycle.
According to official figures, the number of female-headed households has more than doubled over the past 25 years, from 1.2 million in 1991 to 2.5 million in 2015. A UNFPA report says over 70% of women-headed households are widows, more than 13% are married, 10% are divorced, and 5% never married. The high rate of divorce is largely blamed for the increasing number of female-headed households.
