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Domestic violence in Iran is a form of violence expressed by one partner or partners against another partner or partners in the content of an intimate relationship in Iran.
In Iran, domestic relations between couples are regulated by the Civil Code, which constructs marriage as a hierarchic institution where the husband has authority over his wife. Article 1105 reads: "In relations between husband and wife; the position of the head of the family is the exclusive right of the husband". [1] The husband is obligated to maintain his wife, but this obligation ceases to exist if the wife does not perform her duties: Article 1108 states: "If the wife refuses to fulfil duties of a wife without legitimate excuse, she will not be entitled to the cost of maintenance". [1]
The nature of domestic violence is complicated by both a national culture and an authoritative state that supports control, oppression and violence against women. "The government does so by promoting fundamentalist ideas of women as properties of men. It does so by setting up an unequal legal system and not punishing assault even when it has resulted in severe injury or, at times, even death. The conversation of domestic violence then cannot be simply domestic but begins to take the shape of a systematic violence, fueled by tradition, ignited by religion, encouraged by the dominant authoritarian state, and empowered by poverty and illiteracy." [2]
At the heart of the issue is the belief, rooted in common law, that men are responsible for their household affairs, especially the treatment of family members, and should not be subject to intervention by the government. [2]
Iranian feminists believe that women's issues must be further investigated since so many women are facing domestic violence in Iran. [3] "Religious intellectuals have responded by engaging in reluctant analysis of the way the woman question poses itself in the Iranian context. So far, their analyses fail to take into account the gender implications of the struggle against absolutism and traditional authority. However, the dynamic interaction of the reform project with the demands and aspirations of various sectors of Iranian public life will not allow the issue to rest here. Religious intellectuals, in their attempt to recreate essential religious truth in the form of new intellectual concepts and systems, will increasingly have to deal with systemic gender inequalities in a more systematic manner." [3]
There has been some pushback to feminist efforts to reduce domestic violence in Iran by some more conservative elements of Iranian society. For example, the women's Basij leader, Minu Aslani, opposed efforts to fight domestic abuse in Iran, because she felt that it threatened Iran's traditional values. Many people in positions of power hold similar opinions, viewing feminist efforts to achieve gender equality as a threat to Islamic principles. [4]
In his article "'Domestic Violence against Single and Married Women in Iranian Society ", Azad Moradian' quoted a National Coalition Against Domestic Violence statement regarding the nature of domestic violence:
The prevalence of domestic violence has been cited as a cause of high rates of suicide, mostly through self-immolation, among Kurdish women in Iran. [5]
A World Health Organization (WHO) study in Babol found that within the previous year, 15.0% of wives had been physically abused, 42.4% had been sexually abused and 81.5% had been psychologically abused (to various degrees) by their husbands, blaming low income, young age, unemployment and low education. [6]
In 2004, Dr. Ghazi Tabatabaei, a renowned Iranian sociologist, led a study of domestic violence for a joint project undertaken by the Women's Center for Presidential Advisory, the Ministry of Higher Education and The Interior Ministry. Other noted scholars, professionals, psychologists and socialists participated in the study of the capital cities in Iran's 28 provinces that resulted after several years in 32 volumes of results. The findings from questionnaires included the following areas of focus: violence towards women and children, marriages and remarriages, divorce, the effect of education and work on violence and family issues. [2]
The 32 volume findings are available only to scholars and researchers at the Center for Research in Tehran and have been shared with governmental lawmakers and agencies. The study of Iran, a diverse country of many ethnical and cultural communities, resulted in varied results by province, and particularly different the farther that women lived from Tehran, the capital of Iran. This could be attributed to the lack of higher education, economics, and the dominance of religion. [2]
From the study:
| Main category of abuse | Statistic | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| Verbal abuse | Not provided in the article abstract. | |
| Physical abuse | 8.37% of married women in the study reported having experienced severe physical abuse. | |
| Emotional abuse | 52% of married women in the study reported having experienced emotional abuse. | |
| Economical abuse, such as: refusing her right to have a job, restricting her opportunities, taking her income, restricting allowance | Not provided in the article abstract. | |
| Legal abuse, for example: a husband has a legal right in Iran to take his wife's full rights away, by restricting her from traveling, and going out of the house | Not provided in the article abstract. | |
| Educational abuse: restricting the right to go to school | 7.27% of married women in the study reported having experienced educational and career restrictions. | Women who have a higher education and are career women experience a lower level of domestic violence. |
| Neglect by restricting food or not feeding/adequately providing for a family | Not provided in the article abstract. | |
| Sexual abuse, including marital rape, forced pregnancy, forced abortions, restricting wife's access to health care and birth control. | 2.10% of married women in the study reported having experienced sexual abuse; however, this number could be severely under reported due to the taboo surrounding the topic. Of the women who reported sexual abuse, 5.2% reported having a miscarriage due to severe beatings by her husband. | |
| Honor killings, murder, and femicide | 5.23% of married women in the study reported having experienced near death violence or feared for their lives due to domestic violence. | The chief of police in Iran stated that 40% of all murders in Iran happen due to domestic violence and that 50% of all women who are murdered are done so by someone in their immediate family and mostly from the woman's home. |
Since about 1994, there have been an overwhelming number of Masters' and PH.D theses written about women's issues due by women in higher education, including universities in Iran. Because the papers have been unable to result in change or improvements, many universities are now discouraging theses based on Iranian women's issues. [2]
Moradian wrote in 2009 that "Human rights organizations, political/humanitarian oppositional groups and advocacy groups for women were the only voices that acknowledged the existence of this widespread phenomenon in Iran and fought for changes in law and education within communities." [2]
Ramezan Shojaei Kiyasari, Fatema Alia, members of the Iranian parliament, represented Iran at the "Regional Seminar for Asian Parliaments" seminar on 'Preventing and responding to violence against women and girls: From legislation to effective enforcement' held in New Delhi, India in 2011. Mrs. Fatemeh Alia announced that new laws related to violence against women were placed on Iran's parliament agenda. [7]
Existing laws (Iranian Code of Criminal Procedure articles 42, 43, 66) intend to prohibit violence in the form of kidnapping, gender-based harassment, abuse of pregnant women and "crimes against rights and responsibilities within the family structure," but due to cultural and political culture do not protect women, prosecute their abusers and provide services to victims. [2] [7]
Laws to better enforce existing laws and protect women against violence were placed on the agenda before the Iranian parliament the week ending 16 September 2011, focusing on both protection and prevention of violence against women, including focus on human trafficking, better protection and services for abuse victims, rehabilitation (especially concerning domestic abuse) and better processes to manage questioning of female offenders. One of the keys to ultimate success is altering community cultural views regarding the use of violence against women. [7]
Women's rights are the rights and entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st centuries. In some countries, these rights are institutionalized or supported by law, local custom, and behavior, whereas in others, they are ignored and suppressed. They differ from broader notions of human rights through claims of an inherent historical and traditional bias against the exercise of rights by women and girls, in favor of men and boys.
Gender equality, also known as sexual equality or equality of the sexes, is the state of equal ease of access to resources and opportunities regardless of gender, including economic participation and decision-making; and the state of valuing different behaviors, aspirations and needs equally, regardless of gender.
Islamic feminism is a form of feminism concerned with the role of women in Islam. It aims for the full equality of all Muslims, regardless of gender, in public and private life. Islamic feminists advocate for women's rights, gender equality, and social justice grounded in an Islamic framework. Although rooted in Islam, the movement's pioneers have also utilized secular, Western, or otherwise non-Muslim feminist discourses, and have recognized the role of Islamic feminism as part of an integrated global feminist movement.
Violence against women (VAW), also known as gender-based violence and sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), are violent acts primarily or exclusively committed by men or boys against women or girls. Such violence is often considered a form of hate crime, committed against women or girls specifically because they are female, and can take many forms.
The relationship between Islam and domestic violence is disputed. Even among Muslims, the uses and interpretations of Sharia, the moral code and religious law of Islam, lack consensus. Variations in interpretation are due to different schools of Islamic jurisprudence, histories and politics of religious institutions, conversions, reforms, and education.
Violence against women in Peru is defined as harassment or violence propagated against those who are born women. Intimate partner violence (IPV) is the most common form of gender-based violence that occurs though it can occur concurrently with sexual and emotional violence.
Domestic violence is violence or other abuse that occurs in a domestic setting, such as in a marriage or cohabitation. Domestic violence is often used as a synonym for intimate partner violence, which is committed by one of the people in an intimate relationship against the other person, and can take place in relationships or between former spouses or partners. In its broadest sense, domestic violence also involves violence against children, parents, or the elderly. It can assume multiple forms, including physical, verbal, emotional, economic, religious, reproductive, financial abuse, or sexual abuse. It can range from subtle, coercive forms to marital rape and other violent physical abuse, such as choking, beating, female genital mutilation, and acid throwing that may result in disfigurement or death, and includes the use of technology to harass, control, monitor, stalk or hack. Domestic murder includes stoning, bride burning, honor killing, and dowry death, which sometimes involves non-cohabitating family members. In 2015, the United Kingdom's Home Office widened the definition of domestic violence to include coercive control.
The Iranian Women's Rights Movement, is the social movement for women's rights of the women in Iran. The movement first emerged after the Iranian Constitutional Revolution in 1910, the year in which the first women's periodical was published by women. The movement lasted until 1933 when the last women's association was dissolved by the government of Reza Shah Pahlavi. It rose again after the Iranian Revolution in 1979.
The Gender Studies and Human Rights Documentation Centre is a non-profit, non-governmental organization that strives to address the issues of gender inequality in Ghana. Based in Accra, Ghana, the Gender Centre has conducted studies on issues ranging from sexual and psychological violence against school girls to the ways in which social norms lead women to have a higher risk of HIV infection than men. The centre works with local, national, and international organizations in its work towards addressing the problems facing women in Ghanaian society. The Gender Centre conducts research to provide both quantitative and qualitative data that will lead to new laws, fresh outlooks, and community discussions concerning women in this region of the world.
The feminist movement has affected change in Western society, including women's suffrage; greater access to education; more equitable pay with men; the right to initiate divorce proceedings; the right of women to make individual decisions regarding pregnancy ; and the right to own property.
Women in Malaysia receive support from the Malaysian government concerning their rights to advance, to make decisions, to health, education and social welfare, and to the removal of legal obstacles. The Malaysian government has ensured these factors through the establishment of Ministry of National Unity and Social Development in 1997. This was followed by the formation of the Women's Affairs Ministry in 2001 to recognise the roles and contributions of Malaysian women.
Domestic violence in United States is a form of violence that occurs within a domestic relationship. Although domestic violence often occurs between partners in the context of an intimate relationship, it may also describe other household violence, such as violence against a child, by a child against a parent or violence between siblings in the same household. It is recognized as an important social problem by governmental and non-governmental agencies, and various Violence Against Women Acts have been passed by the US Congress in an attempt to stem this tide.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to domestic violence:
Domestic violence against men is violence or other physical abuse towards men in a domestic setting, such as in marriage or cohabitation. As with domestic violence against women, violence against men may constitute a crime, but laws vary between jurisdictions. Intimate partner violence (IPV) against men is generally less recognized by society than intimate partner violence against women, which can act as a further block to men reporting their situation.
Domestic violence in Pakistan is an endemic social and public health problem. According to a study carried out in 2009 by Human Rights Watch, it is estimated that between 10 and 20% of women in Pakistan have suffered some form of abuse. Women have reported attacks ranging from physical to psychological and sexual abuse from intimate partners. A survey carried out by the Thomson Reuters Foundation ranked Pakistan as the sixth most dangerous country for women while India ranked 1st as the most dangerous country for women. Given the very few women's shelters in the country, victims have limited ability to escape from violent situations.
Domestic violence is prominent in Nigeria as in other parts of Africa. There is a deep cultural belief in Nigeria that it is socially acceptable to hit a woman as a disciplinary measure. Cases of Domestic violence are on the high and show no signs of reduction in Nigeria, regardless of age, tribe, religion, or even social status. The CLEEN Foundation reports 1 in every 3 respondents identified themselves as a victim of domestic violence. The survey also found a nationwide increase in domestic violence in the past 3 years from 21% in 2011 to 30% in 2013. A CLEEN Foundation's 2012 National Crime and Safety Survey demonstrated that 31% of the national sample confessed to being victims of domestic violence.
Domestic violence in China involves violence or abuse by intimate partners or family members against one another. Intimate partner violence (IPV) by the man is the most common type of domestic violence in China; a 2005 American Journal of Public Health report found that 1 out of 4 Chinese women had experienced physical violence from their partner in the past year. Although China acknowledged that domestic violence was a problem in the 1930s, it has only become a visible issue in the past few decades due to economic and social changes in the 1980s.
Violence against women includes physical, psychological, emotional, and sexual abuse of women by men, domestic violence being the most common form. Malaysia's rating was 0.681 under the Global Gender Gap Report 2022 and ranked 103rd out of 146 countries.
Domestic violence in South Korea is the mental, physical, verbal or sexual abuses or crimes of violence committed towards a victim in a domestic setting of marital relations and cohabitation. Domestic violence describes violence towards a domestic partner, towards children and between siblings. According to the Domestic Violence Survey of South Korea in 2010, elder abuse was estimated to be 10%, physical abuse accounted for 2.2%, emotional abuse 9%, economic abuse 1.2%, and neglect 2.5%. Marital violence has been the most prevalent form of family violence in South Korea. One out of six couples in South Korea had more than one episode of physical violence from their spouse.
Carceral feminism is a critical term for types of feminism that advocate for enhancing and increasing prison sentences that deal with feminist and gender issues. The term criticises the belief that harsher and longer prison sentences will help work towards solving these issues. The phrase "carceral feminism" was coined by Elizabeth Bernstein, a feminist sociologist, in her 2007 article, "The Sexual Politics of the 'New Abolitionism'". Examining the contemporary anti-trafficking movement in the United States, Bernstein introduced the term to describe a type of feminist activism which casts all forms of sexual labor as sex trafficking. She sees this as a retrograde step, suggesting it erodes the rights of women in the sex industry, and takes the focus off other important feminist issues, and expands the neoliberal agenda.
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