MARRIAGE-OUT, DIVORCE-IN: THE ESCALATION OF THE MARRIAGE CRISIS IN IRAN

Number 38 ● 21 February 2010

In recent years the average age of marriage and the rate of divorce have increased in Iran, indicating serious socio-economic problems which are affecting the way young people in the Islamic Republic are able to live their lives.  These trends have been at the center of a public debate among senior politicians and clerics who are also coping with the ramifications of the global economic recession and declining oil prices. During the past year these domestic difficulties have added to Iran’s economic vulnerability and resulted in a growing socio-economic stress, thirty years after the 1979 Islamic Revolution. 

The rise of the average age of marriage and the increase in the rate of divorce have been accompanied by a sharp upsurge of temporary marriages (mut’ah or sigheh), permissible and practiced among Shi’i Muslim societies. In 2009, for example, Tehran municipality alone witnessed a 28 percent rise in the number of temporary marriages compared with the year before. According to state’s marriage registration office, the real number is even higher, since many of the couples who temporarily marry do not bother to officially alter their new marital status. In an attempt to encourage the registration of mut’ah marriages an official in the marriage registration office pointed out that avoiding registration could have  serious  implications  for children of temporary marriages (Farda, December 12, 2009).

According to data released by Dr. Majid Abhari of the Shahid Beheshti University in Tehran, the average age of marriage increased by 27 percent during the past decade. The research team of the Shahid Beheshti University also indicated a direct link between the sharp increase in the number of couples entering in temporary marriages and the ongoing rise of the average age of marriage in Iran (Mehr News Agency, March 10, 2008).

Soon after the establishment of Islamic Republic, the minimum marriageable age was set at 9 for girls and 14 for boys. In 2002, the Guardian Council of the Constitution approved increasing the minimum age to 13 for girls and 15 for boys. In reality, however, the average age of marriage today is between 25 and 35 among men, and between 24 and 30 among women. According to Dr. Abhari the significant rise in the average age of marriage has been caused by social and economic factors, primarily due to high    unemployment    rates  and    the   soaring housing prices. His research also points out that an Iranian citizen who lives in Tehran needs approximately 30 billion Rials (about $30,000) to meet the expenses of marriage, such as purchasing a flat and paying dowry. Such expenses are  relatively   high  considering   the average salary in Iran is approximately $400 per month. As a result many young Iranians prefer to wait until they are older and have improved their financial prospects (Mehr, September 26, 2009). Further, the number of women who attend institutions of higher education has steadily increased during the same period, and many women prefer to complete their studies before they marry (Mehr, March 10, 2008).

In addition to the increase in the average age of marriage there has also been a significant spike in the divorce rate among Iranian couples, particularly in major urban centers. In March 2008 the conservative daily Jam-i Jam reported that one out of every nine couples in Iran gets divorced (Jam-i Jam, March 5, 2008). According to Dr. Abhari’s research there was an 11 percent increase in the number of divorced couples in Iran in 2009, particularly among men aged 25 to 29 and women aged 20 to 24 (Mehr, September 26, 2009). Facing this social crisis, the sociologist Dr. Abbas Afshari stated in an interview with Hamshahri that the main reasons for the rising rate of divorce are economic distress, physical abuse in the family, drug addiction, and a growing awareness among local women regarding their legal right for divorce (Hamshahri, January 24, 2008.).

Confronted with the increasing average marriage age and the rising rate of divorce, senior politicians and clerics have become involved in the public debate and proposed different solutions to address this crisis. Member of the Majlis’ social committee, Nasrallah Turabi, suggested that the government should find housing and employment solutions for young Iranians in order to relieve the socio-economic pressure underlying the marriage crisis. Some officials even attributed the crisis to the corrupting influences of Western culture on Iranian society – particularly on the younger generation – and an ongoing Western onslaught on the Islamic values upon which the Islamic Republic was established.

The incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has also tried to implement a solution to the country’s marriage crisis. One of his early initiatives after being elected for his first term in 2005 was to allocate over a billion dollars for the “Love of Reza” fund, which was intended to provide subsidies to young couples for the purpose of finding a job, marrying, and purchasing a home.  However, increased economic assistance from the government has not solved the crisis. In the summer of 2007, the Minister of the Interior, Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi, suggested that the government and the religious establishment should encourage temporary marriages to mitigate the problems facing young Iranians of limited financial means. Several other Majlis members have also recently expressed their support for mut’ah marriage as means to solve the current marriage crisis. The Vice-Chairman of the Majlis’ judiciary committee even proposed adding the practice of mut’ah marriage to school curriculum in order to educate young people about this institution (Farda, December 13, 2009). These proposals were harshly criticized by reformist factions who warned that such implementations could severely undermine the family unit and further damage women's social status.

Another effort to address the marriage crisis resulted in the launching of several urban marriage counseling centers for the benefit of Iranian youth.  The head of the National Youth Organization of Iran, Hojjat-ul-Islam Hajj ‘Ali Akbari, clearly stated that these centers were meant to correspond with the needs of the country’s younger generation for counseling and advice about starting a family (IRIB, December 2, 2008).  

In addition to counseling, government officials introduced other forms of pressure to encourage and support marriage. In April 2008 the Governor of North Khorasan, Mohammd-Hossein Jahanbakhsh, proposed the government should stop hiring bachelors, and threatened to fire unmarried men occupying administrative positions in the province unless their marital status changes. Similar notions were expressed by an official of the Pars Oil & Gas conglomerate. Warnings to summarily fire single company employees were supported by the claim that marriage and raising a family are among the employment criteria of the company, and therefore all single men and women must perform their religious and moral duty (BBC in Persian, June 10, 2008).

Finally, the global economic crisis has already forced the Iranian authorities to prepare new economic policies during the ongoing political crisis that has followed the June 2009 Presidential elections. Among other initiatives, the government intends to implement a comprehensive reform of its subsidies policy in the coming months.  As part of this  program, the subsidies on gasoline, natural gas, electricity, water, and bread will be cancelled. The realization of this program  is  expected  to  bring about a significant increase – though perhaps gradual – in the price of basic commodities in Iran in the coming years.

In addition, recent data further indicates a renewed growth in unemployment and signs of a recession. With increasing economic challenges – which are expected to impact young couples as well – and the ongoing social transformation of the younger generation, the marriage crisis will likely remain an important issue on the Iranian agenda. This crisis represents the growing public distress in the country, and poses another challenge to the stability of the regime and its ability to contain the growing opposition movement, which is led by Iran's younger generation■

*Raz Zimmt is a Ph.D. candidate in the Graduate School of Historical Studies and a research fellow at the Center for Iranian Studies at Tel Aviv University.

The Center for Iranian Studies (CIS)

Tel Aviv University, Ramat-Aviv 61390, Tel Aviv P.O.B. 39040, Israel

Email: IranCen@post.tau.ac.il Phone: +972-3-640-9510 Fax: +972-3-640-6665

Iran Pulse 38 ● 21 February 2010

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