“Laleh” speaks of women’s conditions in Iran job market

Women in Iran are facing numerous problems at their working environments. While undergoing higher education and after entering the production cycle looking for work, they are deprived of the minimums and tasting gender discrimination in all aspects of the society.
The state-run IRNA news agency published a piece describing the conditions of a woman employee:
Lale is a woman stepping into the country’s economy. She is 30 years old and has a senior degree in environmental labs and 5 years of experience recorded in her portfolio . What Lale remembers is sexual corruption at her place of work. 
“In the early days I used to work in a lab near Tehran famous for its environmental activities. However, from the very beginning we were only paid once every 2 or 3 months. We were never told about this officially and under various reasons the paychecks would be delayed.
“All the employees of the lab at that time were women. On the other hand the company had divided that year’s New Year bonus through the course of the year and it practically gave us nothing as a New Year gift. The reasons provided later on down the road by the director was that if I wanted to pay you each month I would have hired male employees! Your fees are paid by your father and the other has a husband. Let this money be in my hands as your savings!”
Lale believes the lack of adequate job opportunities has forced people to endure inadequate conditions at work and not say a word. Furthermore, many of the women are unaware of the employment laws. Therefore, the employers easily take advantage of their lack of knowledge and no one protests at all 
“When someone enters a place where before her there were many other people working there, like it or not this individual will be looking at how they behave, as if some things are enshrined and cannot be changed. If those before me did not have patriarchal beliefs, and if they understood that receiving their paychecks and demanding them is not a sign of weakness or poverty, this issue would not have become so ordinary.”

Iranian women facing discrimination at work