Originally posted by the Voice of America. Voice of America content is produced by the Voice of America, a United States federal government-sponsored entity, and is in the public domain. Iran's Women Enduring Violence, High Unemployment, Say Activists on Women's Day Michael Lipin WASHINGTON - Iranian rightsactivists based in Iran and in exile have marked International Women's Day by drawing attention to some of the main hardships facing women in the Islamic republic, including violence directed at them by men and deepening unemployment in a coronavirus-hit economy. "As a woman who grew up in the Islamic republic, I'm very much accustomed to the regime's assaults, humiliations and insults,"said Iran-based dissident [1]Narges Mohammadiin a video message to VOA Persian for a [2]special Monday programabout International Women's Day."But I object to the waythe regime has treated me recently. Why did male policeassaultand rough me up?I'verepeatedly askedofficials to send me a writtenresponse, but they have not done so,"she said.'¯ Mohammadi, a 48-year-old journalist and human rights advocate, had been released in [3]Octoberfrom five years of imprisonment in Iran after years of campaigning byinternational rights activists demanding an end to what they described as her unjust and cruel detention.In an August message to VOA,her France-based husband, TaghiRahmani, said Mohammadi needed specialized medical care outside prison for a lung disease and weakened immune system, as well as for beatings that she apparently sustainedduring aprisontransferin December2019. London-based rights group Amnesty International'¯hassaid'¯Iranian authoritiesassaultedMohammadias they transferred hertoa prison in the northwestern city ofZanjanfrom Tehran's Evin prison, where she had been incarcerated since her May 2015arrest.Video recordings posted on social media have shown other female Iranian rights activists also suffering public assaults by ultraconservative men in the Islamist-ruled nation in recent years. Domestic violence against women also is a serious problem in Iran, according to Iranian culturalstudiesresearcherLeiliNikounzar, a PhD candidate at Belgian university KU Leuven. Speaking to the [4]VOA Persian program, she cited Iran's welfare organization as saying phone calls to itspsychological counseling center doubledthis past year compared to previous years, with many of those calls being domesticviolence-related. "Consider that when members of a family stay at home and in a confined space for days and months[due to coronavirus lockdowns]andface other pressures suchas unemployment, stress,illness anddeath, domestic violence will increase,"Nikounzarsaid. Iranian women's rights activist and journalistMahboubehAbbasgholizadeh, who lives in Los Angeles, told the [5]VOA show that Iran lacks a developed"Me Too"social movement to fight against such violence and sexual harassment against women. Since its 2006 founding by American survivorTaranaBurke, activists around the world have adopted the"[6]Me Too"movement slogan to highlight sexual violence cases and help survivors in their own countries. "Iran's'Me Too'movementlacks maturitycomparedto the U.S. version,"Abbasgholizadehsaid."It is a very angry Iranian movement that is unable to offerempowerment,clinical adviceand other tools to helpassaulted or rapedwomento overcometheirtrauma." Iranian Vice President for Women and Family Affairs MasoumehEbtkekardownplayed domestic violence and other forms of violence against women in her country as"not high"in remarks to a [7]regional forum last month. She also asserted that Iran was in a"better position"than other countries dealing with such problems. But in a statement issued Monday, the [8]U.N. Human RightsOffice said a report to be presented to the Human Rights Council the next day highlights"serious concerns"about domestic violence in Iran. While noting some positive steps such as an Iranianlaw against acid attacks,it said the report byU.N.SpecialRapporteurJavaid Rehman willpressTehranto do more, such as making improvements to an anti-violence bill awaiting parliamentary approval. Iran is one of only a few countries that have not signed a 1979 U.N.Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. Another hardship facing Iranian women is high unemployment exacerbated by the pandemic that began affecting Iran early last year. In another interview for Monday's VOA program, Berlin-based Iranian political activist and former industrial economics student Mahdieh Golroo said about 70% of those laid off from Iran's workforce since the pandemic began have been women. "Importantly, that 70% estimate is for the proportion of women who lost official jobs rather unofficial ones,"Golroo said."Iranianhousewiveswho work in villages, women whowork asstreet vendorsand those whoproduce goodsathome--many of them also lost their jobs due to the coronavirus and they are not includedin this statistic." The Islamic republic's poor record on women's rights prompted a defiant message from a mother and her daughter whom it has jailed since April 2019 for campaigning against its forced public veiling of women. In the poetic audio recording sent to VOA Persian from insideQarchakwomen's prison in southern Tehran, MonirehArabshahiand her daughter Yasaman Aryani denounced what they called the"patriarchy and misogyny"of Iran's Islamist rulers and vowed to stand firm against their"cruelty and belittlement." A message from prison for [9]#InternationalWomensDay These brave mother & daughter joined [10]#WhiteWednesdays to protest [11]#ForcedHijab in Iran. 2 years ago on women's day they gave flowers to women on Tehran's metro to call their sisters to band together.[12]#YasamanAryani[13]#MonireArabshahi [14]pic.twitter.com/TEHiamRotG -- Masih Alinejad ð³ï¸ (@AlinejadMasih) [15]March 8, 2021 "I am that Phoenix who will rise from her ashes,"the message said, before concluding with an International Women's Day greeting to their homeland and the world. This article originated in [16]VOA's Persian Service. References 1. https://ir.voanews.com/episode/iran-woman-day-narges-mohammadi-438621 2. https://ir.voanews.com/episode/nternational-women-day-438516 3. https://www.voanews.com/middle-east/voa-news-iran/freed-iranian-dissident-good-mental-state-needs-medical-monitoring 4. https://ir.voanews.com/media/488216 5. https://ir.voanews.com/episode/iran-woman-day-mahbobeh-abasgholizadeh-full-438616 6. https://metoomvmt.org/get-to-know-us/history-inception/ 7. https://www.isna.ir/news/99112719801/%D8%A7%D8%A8%D8%AA%DA%A9%D8%A7%D8%B1-%D8%AE%D8%B4%D9%88%D9%86%D8%AA-%D8%AE%D8%A7%D9%86%DA%AF%DB%8C-%D8%B9%D9%84%DB%8C%D9%87-%D8%B2%D9%86%D8%A7%D9%86-%D8%A2%D9%85%D8%A7%D8%B1-%D8%A8%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A7%DB%8C%DB%8C-%D8%AF%D8%B1-%DA%A9%D8%B4%D9%88%D8%B1-%D9%86%D8%AF%D8%A7%D8%B1%D8%AF 8. https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=26862&LangID=E 9. https://twitter.com/hashtag/InternationalWomensDay?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw 10. https://twitter.com/hashtag/WhiteWednesdays?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw 11. https://twitter.com/hashtag/ForcedHijab?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw 12. https://twitter.com/hashtag/YasamanAryani?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw 13. https://twitter.com/hashtag/MonireArabshahi?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw 14. https://t.co/TEHiamRotG 15. https://twitter.com/AlinejadMasih/status/1368862100580425729?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw 16. https://ir.voanews.com/ .