Women’s deaths now equal to men’s, let’s work on their lives now

Women in the UK may sometimes grumble about pay disparity or lack of proper part time family friendly work, but compared to women living in countries like Iran, UK women can feel secure in the knowledge that equality is at least written in the law – if not followed in practice.

A new piece of legislation has afforded Iranian women the right to an equal insurance payout if they are killed or injured in a car accident. To this point the payout has only been half that of a man. Obviously this means the woman’s life is seen as half the value of a man’s.

In Iran it is law that all drivers must have car insurance to cover them if they are involved in an accident – in particular an accident which causes the death or injury of another person. If convicted of murder, hanging can be avoided by paying “blood money”. This amounts to approximately $59,000 which is paid to the victim’s family. Women will now receive the same “blood money” as men under the new law, if killed or injured in a car accident. Other types of compensation remain the same.

Under Sharia law, an insurance policy is a contract in which men and women pay equal premiums. The change has been justified because of this fact. If equal premiums are paid then equal compensation must also be paid.

The law for equal blood money was changed to allow equality for Iran’s religious minorities in 2003. Finally women have been afforded the same level of equality.

With two thirds of Iranian university entrants being women and with increasing numbers entering the workforce, the Conservative Government has been under increasing pressure to make changes to discriminatory laws. The government has however given with one hand and taken with the other. They have imposed a law requiring a girl to get permission from her husband or father to attend university in another town.

The Iranian government has also cracked down on the One Million Signatures Campaign which has been collecting signatures in support of gender equality in Iran. They have claimed it is a threat to national security. In addition to all this, the nations premier women’s magazine, Zanan was closed down after it was accused of portraying morally questionable information.

The previous reformist Government did attempt to change many of these unfair laws particularly those relating to legal status. However many of these reforms have since been overturned.

Women in Iran still have along way to go to change thousands of years. Despite their obvious abilities they are still being hampered at every turn. This one small change in the law on insurance is simply huge news, but indicates a very slow progression if it took till 2009 for such to occur.