The importance of women’s participation in the economic field was emphasized by advisor to the ministry of industry and commerce in women affairs, Soheila Jelodarzadeh.
“In fact 30% of the economic activities should be run by women; but for the realization of this goal the required conditions should be first provided,” she said in a meeting of women activists in economic affairs. The heads of Alborz industry, mines and trade organization and women affairs department, besides women entrepreneurs, attended the meeting.
“The lack of women in economic activities has led to accumulation of wealth in men’s accounts much to women’s disadvantage,” she said. This is while women have made gains in education and significantly outpaced men. At present, only two percent of the national assets belong to women; such a deprivation will lay the ground for incidence of many problems in the society, Jelodarzadeh said, quoted by ISNA.
Domestic job security, planning for women teleworking, (allowing them to work at home or using communication tools, such as phone, fax, modem, Internet teleconferencing, e-mail, to perform work duties) reduction of working hours, and employment in highly flexible areas, are effective solutions to facilitate greater presence of women in the economy, said Farahmandpour, adviser of women’s affairs at the ministry of Interior. He added that the ministry is seeking to provide better conditions for women employment.
Female-Headed Households
Meanwhile, the second educational program for the empowerment of women raising children without their spouses was held in Tehran in the presence of advisor to the ministry of women affairs and other officials.
“Both public and private sectors should be active in this important task,” said Fahimeh Firouzfar, the head of the women-headed household empowerment staff.
The number of women heads of households is believed to have increased worldwide and in both developed and developing countries, a high proportion of these households are found to suffer from poverty.
At present, 2.5 million people come under women-headed households in Iran. Therefore this number should be targeted for women advancement, and also poverty alleviation.
Establishment of a comprehensive information network of single-mother families across the country is the first and most important step to begin the task and should be implemented by governors; therefore, in addition to having statistics of the country’s female headed households, other funding agencies and even charity organization will be able to identify them based on the records.
Any Institution which wants to help in the empowerment of women-headed households, as a first step must know the target population well. The second step is planning, tailored to suit the targeted group needs. Finally the empowered groups should be separated from funding or charity organizations.
