For over 1,000 years, Iranians have celebrated the marriage of Imam Ali to the daughter of the Prophet Muhammed on a day colloquially known as National Marriage Day—a day celebrating marriage and Muslim family values. This year, however, in light of a skyrocketing divorce rate prompted by a growing population of unhappy wives, the day was renamed No Divorce Day—a day when no divorce permits would be issued.
Via the NYTimes:
Whether the switch was effective or not, the officials’ concerns are understandable. Divorce is skyrocketing in Iran. Over a decade, the number each year has roughly tripled to a little more than 150,000 in 2010 from around 50,000 in 2000, according to official figures. Nationwide, there is one divorce for every seven marriages; in Tehran, the ratio is 1 divorce for every 3.76 marriages, the government has reported.
While the change in divorce rates is remarkable, even more surprising is the major force behind it: the increasing willingness of Iranian women to manipulate the Iranian legal system to escape unwanted marriages.
The entire article is worth a read. It’s akin to watching fireworks explode off the bow of a sinking ship—conservative Iranians are denouncing divorce as on par with drug addiction and prostitution, meanwhile, divorce rates are used to illustrate the progress women have made in the workplace, at schools, and finally, at home:
Iran’s rising divorce rate is all the more noteworthy given the laws on divorce. While husbands are empowered to end their marriages in a matter of weeks without stating any reason, women must establish sufficient grounds for divorce in a process that can take several years, even with professional legal advice.
The irony for American bigots and failed American foreign policy is that Iran is the Islamic country most likely to become fully modern, with their women leading the way, while we cling to our one-sided alliances with dinosaurs.
Dinosaurs that frolicked with Adam and Eve?
And just as ironic, IMO at least, is the fact that the Iranian courts are granting all these divorces, which presumably means the offended wives are successfully able to establish patterns of abuse, neglect, infidelity, what-have-you, on the part of their husbands to the court’s satisfaction.
In other words, Iranian society, despite its many other regressive stances, has apparently agreed that Iranian women do not have to remain under the thumb of their douche-bag husbands.
Sometimes, progress pushes up through the cement of repression like a dandelion through a crack in the sidewalk…
After watching Not Without My Daughter, it makes me glad to see this report.