Zahra Shojaei

Head of the Center for Women Participation, Zahra Shojaei, called on the government to take immediate action to prevent a further rise in the increasing number of unwanted pregnancies and illegal abortions especially among runaway girls and delinquent women.
Shojaei, who was lecturing on the occasion of the World Health Day (April 7) and the inauguration of the Health Week, went on, “The number of years for Iranian women when they are in good health compared to Iranian men and international norms needs further consideration.“
She added problems such as anemia and iron deficiency among women especially those in the childbearing age, disorders caused by iodine deficiency and the prevalence of diseases such as hypertension, diabetes and osteoporosis among women over 50 require a well-targeted inclusive healthcare program.
She stated that mental disorders such as depression, suicidal inclinations and introversion among young girls are a cause for concern, highlighting the need for attempts to promote women’s mental health.
Shojaei, who is also presidential advisor on women’s affairs, pointed to the role of women in developing societies and said women and children sustain additional pressure in such societies where poverty prevails. “Still, their needs and demands go largely unnoticed. The development process in most societies has been biased,“ she stated.
According to Shojaei, women constitute one-third of the world’s official workforce, but the majority are employed in professions with the minimum wages.
Women are paid about three-forth of men for work of equal value, whereas they are more vulnerable to unemployment.
Referring to women’s health as one of UN indexes for measuring development of nations, Shojaei said many factors threaten women’s health all throughout their lives from childhood to old age.
“Cultural and social factors such as status in the family and society, and the issue of violence, have a dramatic impact on women’s physical and mental health,“ she added.
“Although life expectancy has increased from 65.67 to 68.50 years among Iranian men and from 70.14 to 73.16 years among women during 1997-2003 and the family planning schemes have been successful, there are still certain shortfalls in the health sector which need to be rectified.“

Simindokht Vahidi was born in Tehran in 1923. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Persian literature from Tehran University. Vahidi is a poet and an expert in literature history. She instructed at Maktab Al-Zahra for several years. She is a member of Women Poetry Council affiliated to the Culture and Islamic Guidance Ministry. She has published her poetry works since 1946. Vahidi served as chief editor of the poetry council’s Kosar quarterly during 1981-92. She is the mother of two daughters and three sons.
Vahidi has already published several books. Her publications include ’Hoor’ (1946) by Kourosh Kabir Publishers, ’A Sky of Corn Poppy’ (1996) by the Islamic Propagations Organization, ’I Feel the Life’ (1996) by Islamic Propagations Organization, ’Restless Waves’ (1996) by Hadis Publishers.
Her first published work is a collection of stories titled ’Mourning Tulips’.
Ministries of education, culture and Islamic guidance and others have honored the poet on several occasions.

Director of Women Council of Tehran Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Mines said that women’s economic committees would start work in the chamber as of April.
Based on the report released by the Public Relations Office of the chamber, Mahvash Nikpour said the move was aimed at encouraging women’s participation in different economic sectors.
She stated that the council was due to establish several committees in the fields of training, tourism, transportation, commerce, industry, mines and textile.
Nikpour added, “This is a positive step toward recognition of problems faced by women traders and entrepreneurs.“
Women active in economic arenas, who do not hold commercial cards, can as well attend the committees.

Close to 54 percent of women above 10 were married last year.

The average age of marriage in Iran rose by 3.9 percent last year (ended March 20) compared to the previous year.
A senior demographer with the Statistics Center of Iran, Sadreddin Beladi Mousavi, told ISNA that the average age of first marriage rose from 24 years in 1986 to 26.7 years in 2004 for men and from 20 to 23.9 years for women.
“The number of marriages increased from seven per 1,000 population to more than 10 during the same period. The number of divorces recorded during this time rose from 0.7 to 1.1 per 1,000 population. Ten divorces were filed for every 100 marriages registered in 1997. The figure was reported at 10.6 in 2003,“ he added.
The expert mentioned that 54 percent of women above 10 were married last year. “Some 16 percent of women without a spouse were widowed and 39 percent divorced in the same period,“ he stated.
Commenting on women’s population during the post-revolution era, he said, “About 25 years after the victory of the Islamic Revolution, women’s population has hit 33.4 million. The first generation has now reached the employment and childbearing age.“
According to Mousavi, the total population was estimated at above 60 million people in 1996 of whom 29.5 million were women and 30.5 million men. “Last year (March 2004-March 2005), of the 67.5-million-strong population, 33.4 million were women. About 59.5 percent of all women are in the childbearing age (15-49 years),“ he noted.

Chairwoman of the Assembly of Women Members of Islamic Councils said at least five women should be appointed in the next cabinet to ensure women’s concerns are dealt with properly, ISNA reported.
In a letter to presidential candidates, Sediqeh Qannadi wrote, “Women have been assigned only as heads of organizations during the last eight presidential terms and there have been no female ministers to date.“
She complained that despite their prominent role in different arenas of the Islamic Revolution, “only 3 percent of the women workforce in administrations found their way into managerial portfolios.“
She regretted that a high percentage of educated girls are jobless. “Many families force their daughters into unwanted marriages, some even with foreign nationals out of poverty.“
Qannadi criticized some families’ objections to their daughters’ higher education as well as shortage of sporting facilities for girls. “Our women are the best and at the same time the cheapest workforce,“ she said.

Local women weaving carpet in Kohkiloyeh-Boyer Ahmad province. (IRNA Photo)

Majlis Cultural Commission in a second reading of the proposal on facilitating marriage for youth deleted the part advising that a top limit be determined for women’s Mahrieh (the amount the husband agrees to pay his wife upon demand after marriage), as reported by IRNA.
Member of the commission, Laleh Eftekhari, said the proposal was subjected to expert examination and the deputies put forth their viewpoints on whether an upper limit needs to be fixed for the prenuptial agreed sum.
“The commission examined the proposal on the basis of guidelines provided by the religion advising simple marriages to encourage young people,“ she added.
According to Eftekhari, the commission is finalizing its decision on the proposal which will soon be presented to the parliament.

Norway will shut companies that refuse to recruit at least 40 percent women to their boards by 2007 under an unprecedented equality drive, a cabinet minister said.
“Companies have been dragging their feet. They really have to recruit more women,“ Children and Family Affairs Minister Laila Daavoey told Reuters. “In the very worst case, they will face closure.“
Norway’s parliament told firms in 2002 to ensure at least 40 percent of each sex in boardrooms by mid-2005 to force corporate leadership to match Nordic traditions of sex equality elsewhere in society.
Earlier Oslo had not spelt out sanctions for non-compliance. Many companies denounce the scheme as the toughest corporate sex equality goal in the world.
“Since 2002 the percentage of women in boards has risen to only 11 percent from six,“ Daavoey said. “Yet there are thousands of qualified women out there--companies can choose from half the adult population.“
Many European nations have more women in boardrooms than Norway and the male bastion is a paradox for a country where 40 percent of the cabinet of Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik and 37 percent of parliamentarians are women.
Daavoey, who oversees sex equality rules, said that all state-controlled firms including oil group Statoil and telecoms firm Telenor had already complied.
But many other firms are lagging, including energy and engineering group Aker Kvaerner or Internet search group Fast.
Many business leaders say the rules will force them to recruit ill-qualified women as quota fillers.
“If we can recruit women to our state companies why can’t private businesses do it too?“ Daavoey said.
She said the threat of closure was meant as a spur. “I don’t believe that companies will get into a situation where they risk closure. Companies will obviously find women,“ she said.
Sexual equality is built into Nordic traditions of strong welfare, now funded in Norway by vast North Sea oil revenues. As long ago as Viking times, women ran farms when men went abroad on voyages of discovery or pillage.
Under Daavoey’s plan, Oslo will review lists of corporate boards in August 2005. If they fall short of the 40 percent goal, the government will set a legal deadline of 2007.
In 2007, laggards would face liquidation by court order if they refuse to comply after a formal, final warning.
Daavoey said the demand for 40 percent of each sex could be added to regulations on minimum board size, for instance, or rules demanding employee representation in boardrooms.

A Pap test can save your life. It can find cancer of the cervix before it becomes invasive. Pap tests can also pick up infections and inflammation, and abnormal cells that can change into cancer cells.
You need to have a Pap test if you are over 18 years old. If you are under 18 and have been sexually active, you also need a Pap test. Even women who have gone through menopause need to get tests.
Women who are living with HIV are more at risk for developing cancer of the cervix and other cervical diseases. HIV-positive women have an initial Pap test, and then another one six months later. If both of these show no cancer, then a Pap test can be done once a year.
Women who have had a hysterectomy should talk with their healthcare provider about whether they need to continue having routine tests. If the hysterectomy was done because a woman had cancer or a precancerous condition, the end of the vagina still needs to be tested for abnormal changes. Women who have had both their uterus and cervix removed may not need routine Pap tests. Women who have had only the uterus removed need regular Pap tests.
Many healthcare providers tell women to get a Pap test every year. But, your healthcare provider may recommend a Pap test every one to three years after you have had three normal Pap tests for three years in a row.
The healthcare provider will put will take a few cells from inside and around the cervix. The cells are placed on a small glass slide, then checked by a lab to make sure they are healthy. If the cells are okay, no treatment is needed. If an infection is present, treatment is prescribed. If the cells look abnormal, or not healthy, more tests may be needed.
New methods are also being developed to improve the accuracy of Pap tests. One is called the Thin-Prep Pap test, where cervical cells are placed in a different way on the microscope slide than with the standard test. This may make it easier to detect abnormal cells. Other methods use computers to scan the cervical cells to look for abnormal cells.

Women will soon be allowed to work through the night in Indian factories under a long-awaited labor market reform that will increase the country’s competitiveness and strike a blow for gender equality in the subcontinent, bignewsnetwork.com reported.
The government will bring an amendment before the next session of parliament that overhauls the 1948 Factories Act. The proposed changes will allow state governments to permit companies with more than 10 employees to deploy women in night shifts between 10pm and 6am.
The apparel and information technology sectors, which employ large numbers of young women as seamstresses and call center operators, would be the principal beneficiaries of the new law. “It’s a great recognition of our needs and will make us more competitive vis-ˆ-vis China in the long run,“ said John Chiramel, chief executive of Intimate Fashions, a manufacturer in Chennai that supplies lingerie to Victoria’s Secret, the US brand.
He said, “Adding a night shift would increase our capacity by 50 percent, so it makes tremendous sense. We will now study whether it is feasible, in terms of getting permission from families, spouses and the girls themselves.“
Ranjana Kumari, director of the Delhi-based Center for Social Research, a non-governmental organization for the empowerment of women, said she was pleased that the right to work had been protected, but was concerned by the lack of detail on proposed safeguards.
Kumari said, “This legislation is employer-driven, as women account for the majority of cheap labor available, and motivated by the ideology of making labor markets ever more flexible.“
She added, “In an environment where women are denied maternity and childcare protection, and where rape is becoming ever more common on journeys to and from work, such a law will give a blanket to employers to exploit women labor if safeguards are not properly monitored.“