Gender Inequality in Iran is Among the World’s Worst
Iran’s regime claims it has a proud track record in improving the status of women and the family, but the global indicators charting the progress of women’s rights paint a different picture.
Iranian women are in an unfavourable and unstable situation, not only compared to developed countries, but also compared to neighbouring countries. In this report, we review some facts and indicators related to women in Iran compared to other countries. First, we review a limitation particular to Iranian women: the mandatory hijab.
Mandatory hijab is an unusual phenomenon. Hijab wearing is pervasive, and often socially mandated, for women in most Islamic cultures. But, currently, women are only required to wear hijab by law in Iran, Afghanistan (after its occupation by the Taliban), the cities of Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia, and the province of Aceh in Indonesia. Among these, Iran is the only country with a statutory mandate for hijab.
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Structural discrimination against women goes beyond the mandatory hijab. Internationally defined gender justice indicators show Iranian women are in an unacceptable situation.
Human Development Index and gender inequality
In the latest Human Development Report of the United Nations Development Program (2021/2022), Iran's Human Development Index (HDI) in 2021 is 0.774, which is close to the 2014 HDI of 0.773.
The 2021 HDI score of 0.774 is lower than the 2020 HDI score of 0.777. Iran's global ranking among the 191 countries increased from 77th in 2020 to 76th. This due to the decline of Cuba's position.
The Human Development Report includes a discussion about the Gender Inequality Index (GII) and ranks countries based on this criterion.
As its name suggests, the GII assesses the level of inequality between men and women in a given country based on a series of social indicators. In the 2021/2022 HDI report, Iran was ranked 115th among 191 countries in terms of GII. Iran’s 115th rank, with the score of 0.459, ranks it among the “most unequal” group of countries, the last group of five.
Iran’s ranking of 76th in the HDI report and its ranking 115th in the GII report indicates severe gender inequality.
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One of the five components of GII, measured by the United Nations Development Programme, is the maternal mortality rate. In 2017, there were 16 deaths per 100,000 births in Iran, an acceptable rate which helped raise Iran’s GII ranking. Otherwise, Iran’s ranking would have been much lower.
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Maternal Mortality Rate
In the GII report, the average maternal mortality rate for countries with a “high” HDI is 62 deaths, and Iran fares far better than this average. The average maternal mortality rate for countries with a very high HDI is 15 per 100,000 births.
Compared to other countries, Iran ranks 150th in terms of maternal mortality rate. Russia, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Uruguay, and Tajikistan, all rank similarly.
Teen Pregnancy Rate
Another GII indicator is the teen pregnancy rate, which counts the number of births per every one thousand women aged 15-19. Iran’s rate was 30.2, with the world ranking of 77 in 2021, which is around the median.
This indicator’s average in very high HDI countries is 14.1. In high HDI countries, which include Iran, it is 28. Iran’ ranking is slightly worse than the other high HDI countries.
Iran’s ranking is similar to Moldova (ranked 27.8), Vietnam (ranked 30.3), Rwanda (ranked 32.4), Thailand (ranked 32.7), Jamaica (ranked 32.8) and Indonesia (ranked 33.9).
Education
The 4th GII indicator is the number of women aged over 25 who have at least a high school diploma. According to the 2020/2021 GII report, 71.6% of women in this age group achieved this level of education in Iran.
Based on this indicator, Iran’s ranking is also 77th which is, again, around the median.
The average percentage among countries similar to Iran is 72.7. This indicator’s average percentage among “very high” HDI countries is 87%.
Iran’s ranking is similar to Libya (70.5%), Argentina (71%), Saudi Arabia (71.3%), Samoa (71.6%), Philippines (73.4%), and Jamaica (74.3%).
Economic Participation
In 2021, the level of Iranian women’s economic participation, which applies to women older than 15, was 14.4%. This number is very low compared to other countries, and ranks Iran 167th.
The average women economic participation rate for high HDI countries is 53.6%, which is 3.7 times higher than Iran. This rate for low HDI countries is 44.4%. Iran’s rate is well below this rate as well.
Iran’s ranking is similar to Jordan (13.5%), Afghanistan (14.5%), Egypt (15.4%), Papua New Guinea (15.5%), Algeria (15.7%), and Rwanda (16.3%).
Political Participation
Another GII indicator is measured by the percentage of female representatives in national assemblies and parliaments. In 2021, this rate in Iran was 5.6%, and globally ranks Iran as 160th.
In “high HDI” countries, women occupy 25.8% of the parliament seats. In “low HDI” countries, this rate is 22.8%. These numbers show how far Iran is, with its 5.6% participation rate, from reaching the level of other countries.
Gender Development Index (GDI)
Since 2014, the United Nations Development Programme has included the new indicator GDI in its annual HDI reports. Based on this index, countries are categorized into five groups. With a score of 0.88, Iran is in the fifth group, which includes countries with the lowest GDI.
Several indicators are used to rank countries based on GDI. Among the most noteworthy is gross national income separated by gender.
In the year 2021, men’s gross national income, based on 2017 purchasing power, was $22,041. Women’s gross national income was a sixth of the men’s during the same period, at $3,767, which is a clear indicator of income discrimination.
