The Women’s Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) has produced a report on the situation of Iranian women under the mullahs over the past six years and is presenting it to the United Nations’ Beijing+25 Forum.

Report to the UN Beijing+25 Forum

It is an update of the report that the NCRI sent to the UN in 2015, during the last Beijing Platform implementation forum, and answers the questions on the status of women that the UN Women’s office has asked of every country. It provides a look at the true issues facing Iranian women, especially because the secrecy of the regime means that reality is often obscured to help the mullahs avoid international condemnation.

The regime is sexist on the surface and at its core, not caring even the littlest about stopping discrimination against women and even encouraging it because they need to keep women oppressed in order to keep power.

The Women’s Committee wrote: “If one day they give up this patriarchy and provide an opportunity for women’s participation, they would not maintain their political system. Instead, they advance their goals by restricting and suppressing women’s rights under the banner of Islam. Discrimination against women is entrenched in the law and the Constitution.”

This is, of course, in direct opposition to the UN’s #GenerationEquality parity goals for 2030. The Committee advised that the regime has not (and will not) sign up to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals because the SDGs support gender equality and the mullahs want to increase the pressure on women. That’s why Iran is one of the worst countries in terms of the World Economic Forum’s gender gap index.

For over 40 years, the regime has brought the country to its knees through malign domestic and foreign policies that plundered Iran’s natural resources, impoverished the people, and destroyed its standing on the world stage. However, as always, the worst impacts of this were felt by women because they are more likely to be in insecure employment, take time off for caring responsibilities, and to be the subject of unfair employment laws.

The Committee wrote: “We wish to convey the voice of Iranian women suffering under the mullahs’ tyrannical regime. But Iranian women have never relented their struggle to obtain their legitimate rights. On the contrary, they are at the forefront of the battle for Iran’s freedom and democracy. The time has come for the world to hear their voice and support their cause.”