Rise of Youth, Women to Managerial Positions Eased

The new ratifications of Supreme Administrative Council are aimed at easing the promotion of women and young people to managerial positions in state-run bodies.

A new amendment introduced in the council’s Executive Order for Selecting Professional Managers prohibits the promotion of employees with more than 25 years of experience or those over 55 years to management posts, IRNA reported.

The new amendment has also lowered the bar for minimum experience required for executive, lower-, middle- and top-level management positions to two-thirds of their current level that stands at 3,4,6 and 10 years respectively.

The move is part of a broader government policy to lower the average age of managers in the government’s executive bodies and increase women’s participation in management positions in the Sixth Five-Year Development Plan (2017-22).

According to Article 5 of the executive order, the average age of managers is to be brought down by 8 years from its current level by the end of the Sixth Plan. Women’s participation is set to constitute at least 30% of the managerial positions.

“The 12th government [the new administration led by President Hassan Rouhani] is keen on bringing more women into senior management and leadership roles,” Vice President Es’haq Jahangiri said last month.

Back in March, Minister of Cooperatives, Labor and Social Welfare Ali Rabiei said the number of Iranian women employed in executive positions shows a 189% growth compared with three years ago.