The Iranian government recently approved a bill, called the Protection, Dignity and Security of Women Against Violence, to help combat violence against women. This bill has been in the works since former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s term. May of last year, a 14-year-old girl was brutally killed by her father, who claimed it was an “honor-killing”. This event was a spark for the movement of women’s rights. Also last year, Iranian women started a social media trend #MeToo, which had women speaking out against the injustice and brutality of women. Civil rights group, Human Rights Watch, says the bill is positive, because it includes different parts of government as well as other entities in women’s issues. While the New York based organization says the bill falls short of expectations, by not including the criminalization of marital rape or child marriage. The bill, however, is said to define violence as “any behavior inflicted on women due to sexuality, vulnerable position or type of relationship, and inflicts harm to their body, psyche, personality and dignity, or restricts or deprives them of legal rights and freedoms”.
This bill is very important for both Iran and the surrounding area. Iran’s bill could cause an positive impact on women’s rights for the region, which overall is below average gender equality. The USNews and World Report ranked the top ten worst countries for gender equality. The top three were Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates. These three countries are all in close range to Iran. If women and supporters of women’s rights see what’s going on in Iran, there could be a push for reform in those countries as well. Iran could be the “example” to set the others off into similar pushes for gender equality.
Within international relations, this article falls under the category of international development, because it deals with rights an inequality of women. From a geopolitical standpoint, it is possible that Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE do not want the bill to be successful in Iran. This can affect their national unity. If Iran moves forward in women’s rights, the other countries will see that and start to ask for reform and protest against their governments.