Date: Friday 25 November 2011
Time: 11:00 – 13:00,
Location: Thorne Room, Foreign Press Association,
Event: “You are my wife and you will do as I tell you!”
Unveiling of ‘Chehel Tekeh’ protest banner from
“You are my wife and you will do as I tell you!”
“I am the head of the household and you can’t leave this house without my permission. You don’t have my permission to see your family! You don’t have my permission to work! You don’t have my permission to study and there is nothing you can do about it! I will not allow you to divorce me and if you disobey me I can take up as many other wives as I please!”
Some of the rights granted to Iranian men according to the new proposed Family Protection Bill.
While the international community is preoccupied with nuclear issues and external threats from the Islamic Republic, internally the Islamic Parliament is debating the extent of legalised discrimination against 38 million Iranian women.
In protest against the [anti] Family Protection Bill a banner made up of forty stories of tragic consequences of such laws was presented to the Islamic Consultative Assembly in November last year. Making polygamy illegal, granting equal and equitable divorce rights and urgent laws addressing the spiralling domestic violence were among their demands
On its first anniversary, the banner is here in London. It will be unveiled on Friday 25 November 2011 on the occasion of ‘International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women’. It will travel
Contact and further information
Roya Kashefi 07960945970 rk@aciiran.com (English and Persian)
Head of Human Rights – Association des Chercheurs Iraniens – ACI, Author ‘Violence isn’t just physical’ to be published March 2012
Rouhi Shafii 07739988814 rouhi@icavi.org (English and Persian)
Author and Director - International Coalition Against Violence in
Background information:
The Family Protection Bill was submitted to the Islamic Consultative Assembly (The Majlis) during summer 2007 after being amended by President Ahmadinejad’s cabinet. It raised a great deal of concern and was quickly dubbed the Anti Family Protection Bill by all those fighting for equality in
The ‘Chehel Tekeh’ protest banner told the story of women who were victims of such Islamic rights in the past who look to the government to safeguard their rights by not ratifying discriminatory laws
Story one
The nurse came out of the delivery, carrying the newly born. She approached the old man sitting with other family members and said: “Congratulations grandpa, your daughter-in-law has brought you a son!”
Suddenly, she saw the family’s gestures. He was the father! Mohtaram was his fourth wife and the same age as children from his first marriage. The man had bought her by the money he paid to her addicted father. Mohtaram was young but looked like an old woman. Her face reflected the sufferings she had endured, first in her father’s home and now her old husband’s and the society and the law!
Story two
I was the third child. When I was young we lived in the village with my grandfather. I always saw my mother’s sad and depressed face. Then, I realised the woman who lived next door with a child was my father’s second wife. Later, he moved away and got her a house near his shop and we rarely saw him. He didn’t contribute to the household and my mother struggled to provide for us through setting up a chicken farm. Years later, one day when we were not home she killed herself.
Story three
A few years after marriage, my husband started jokingly telling me that I looked like an old woman. I was 5 years younger than him. He began beating me and broke my hands several times. When he talked of taking up another wife I took it as a joke. “He wouldn’t do that”, I thought. “We have two children!” But one day he married a young girl and wanted to get a two storey building to bring his bride to live with us. I made him swear on the Qoran not to do that and he took his child bride elsewhere. He forgot about us and spent all his earning enjoying his bride. I was providing for the children by working in people’s homes or the hairdressing salons. My younger son says: when I grow up I will kill my dad.
Timeline
2007
1. 23 June – The Ahmadinejad cabinet ratifies the Family Protection Bill
2. 23 July – The Bill is presented to the Islamic Consultative Assembly (ICA)
3. Early August – Criticisms and protests against the [anti] Family Protection Bill starts – particularly against articles 23 (legalising polygamy in all its forms)
4. 26 August – The ICA Cultural Commission starts assessing the Bill
5. 29 August – Laleh Eftekhari female member of
6. 9 September – The One Million Signature Campaign to Change Discriminatory Laws issues a statement with 2000 signatures of support against the proposals in the Bill
7. 26 September – Fundamentalist Islamic Women’s Council holds a meeting to discuss the discriminatory laws in the Bill demonstrating that the concerns were widespread
8. November – ‘Women’s Field’ publishes postcards stating ‘NO!’ to the Bill and over 2000 are posted to the
9. 14 October – Fatemeh Aliya another female member of
10. 4 December – 550 women activists sign a petition asking to meet with the female members of
11. 5 December – Grand Ayatollah Sanei issues a fatwa against further marriage without permission/knowledge of first wife.
2008
12. January – Housewives start a letter writing campaign to the
13. 2 March – Eshrat Shaegh female member of
14. 9 July – Judicial Affairs Commission of the eighth
15. 12 August – the establishment of ‘Women’s Rights Activists and Groups Coalition Against The Anti Family Protection Bill’
16. 15 August – Exposure of the fact that 65 male members of
17. 22 August – 2200 people join the Coalition
18. 23 August – State media attacks the Coalition
19. 31 August – another 800 join the coalition
20. 1 September –8 am: Larijani the Speaker of ICA asks Judicial Affairs Commission to pay more detailed attention to the contents of the Bill
21. 1 September – 12-2pm: Over 100 equal rights activists visit with 50 members of
22. 1 September – 4pm:
23. 9 September – Articles 23, 25 and note 4 of article 53 are removed from the Bill
24. 10 September –
2009
25. 17 January – Farhad Tajari member of the Management Committee of Judicial Affairs Commission of ICA states that article 23 will be added back in the Bill
26. June - Few days prior to the 10th Presidential elections, spokesperson for Judicial Affairs Commission of the
27. 12 June - Tenth Presidential elections.
28. 14 November - Ending the review of the Bill in the Legal and Judicial Commission, the spokesman for the Commission announced men would not be granted permission to re-marry unless by the first wife consents or if the wife has committed certain offences. These were detailed in the amended Bill
29. 19 December - According to Farhad Tajari, Article 22 of the Family Protection Bill regarding temporary marriage passed through the Commission with the majority vote.
30. 31 December - Article 23 of the Family Protection Bill passed through the Commission by stipulating 10 conditions to it.
2010
31. 11 January - The return of Article 25 regarding the division of bride’s worth (Mahriyeh) into proportionate and disproportionate which the latter did not follow imprisonment in case of refusal to pay by men.
32. 1 February - End of review of the Family Protection Bill by the Legal and Judicial Commission
33. Sporadic demonstrations against the approval of the Bill which could not take an organised manner due to the political unrest and oppression following the 10th Presidential elections.
34. 17 February - Publication of a statement in opposition to the “Family Protection Bill” signed by 1200 of equal rights defenders.
35. 7 March - Distribution of a booklet throughout the cities in opposition to the Bill.
36. 8 March - Launch of two new sites by women activists inside
37. On the Occasion of 8th of March, Women’s International Day, various statements were issued by women’s groups in opposition to the Bill.
38. 6 April - A statement against the Bill gathered more than 3,000 signatures.
39. Farhad Tajari announced of a fresh review of parts of the Bill in the Legal and Judicial Commission
40. 19 April - Proposal tabled by Jafarzadeh, head of Commission for Social Affairs of ICA for a joint review of the Bill was refused.
41. 24 April - Complete version of the Bill under second review was forwarded to the
42. 22 August - Meeting of MPs from various periods with the Speaker of ICA, Larijani, to discuss problems in the Bill.
43. 23 August - Centre for Research of the
44. 24 August - Open debate on the sections of the Bill related to marriage in the
45. 30 August - The ICA returned the Bill to Judicial Affairs Commission for further review.
46. 19 September - Speaker of the Commission announced changes in marriage section of the Bill.
47. 26 September - Fifty activists of equal rights from various cities took a “Ban polygamy” petition with more than 5,000 signatures to
48. 28 September - Sections of the Bill on marriage was referred to a Specialist Legal Commission.
49. 20 November - “ Chehel-Tekeh” protest Banner made by women in opposition to the Bill along with 10,000 signatures was taken to the
50. 12 December - Deletion of article 24 and remaining of articles 22 & 23 as they were.
2011
51. 22 January - The possibility of addition of another two articles to the Bill regarding the rights of women & children.
52. 17 April - Spokesperson for the ICA Women’s Fraction stated that in their meeting with the Speaker of ICA they offered their recommendations and suggestions
53. 27 July – After months of deliberation Judicial Affairs Commission removed article 23 (extra ‘permanent’ marriages) from the proposed Bill and with a few other amendments the Bill was sent back for debate to the
54. 13 August – It was announced that further provisions to allow women to instigate divorce and the rights of children born out of marriage between Iranian women and non Iranians men were among further amendments to the Bill
55. 14 September – According to a member of Judicial Affairs Commission of ICA the Bill would be discussed as soon as
56. 30 October – A member of ICA Women’s Fraction pointed out the urgency in attending to the Bill before the parliamentary
More in this section: