Every legal system and school of thought in the world today offers legal, economic, and social solutions to ensure that individuals’ ownership is respected, justice is implemented, and social security and welfare are easily achieved for all members of society. The main criteria and standards that measure and evaluate sustainable development is legal support for women, especially vulnerable and homeless women; women who are exposed to the greatest social and economic harms. Unfortunately, due to the fact that we are facing a misogynistic and indifferent system towards women’s issues in the Islamic Republic, we will also face serious legal and executive gaps in this area in the laws of this system.

While special legal and executive supports for women in many developed societies have been able to take a significant and effective step towards eliminating discrimination against women and have brought about widespread successes in this area, in our country Iran, we still face the unfortunate phenomenon of homeless women due to the ongoing trend of social degradation.

In this short article, we aim to address the legal and regulatory gaps in the area of protective laws for homeless women in the legal system of Iran.

The great social phenomenon known as homelessness. 

Beggarism is one of the special social phenomena in urban communities that has turned into a complex and significant social issue. Approaches and opinions related to beggarism show that it is shaped by a combination of individual characteristics, social, political, and cultural conditions, economic poverty and resulting vulnerability and marginalization, leading to experiences of victimization and social exclusion. As a result, it is likely that vulnerable individuals may experience repeated victimization, engage in risky behaviors, and engage in predictable criminal activities. However, women experience this phenomenon differently from men due to gender-based victimization experiences. The lifestyle imposed on them, daily activities, and presence in hotspots of the city may make them vulnerable to victimization and the risk of repeated victimization and secondary victimization in these women is predictable.

The harms caused by women’s homelessness and lack of legal and legal support for them. 

Unfortunately, addiction and prostitution are harsh realities of women’s lives on the streets, and their consequences manifest in the form of HIV transmission to sexual partners, unwanted pregnancies, risks experienced during unsafe abortions and the birth of infected, addicted, homeless and deprived children who perpetuate the cycle of street life. This leads to the formation of social harms such as child abuse, child labor and the trafficking of infants for the purpose of livelihood and drug procurement, ultimately resulting in the transfer of social harms from one generation to another. On the other hand, the undesirable economic and social situation of the homeless and the inevitable resort of some individuals in this population to theft, sexual work, and their visible presence and movement in the city, creates fear of victimization among citizens, which in turn increases the process of social exclusion of the homeless.

Social harms caused by the lack of legal support for homeless women in society.

The survival needs of homeless women are different from the basic needs of other women in society. They also require shelter, food, and clothing to survive and be safe from the cold, heat, and life’s hardships. Descriptive data on homeless women shows a significant poverty in the areas of education and employment. Unemployment and lack of income are the inevitable consequences of this poverty, which, in the absence of legal and social support resulting from social exclusion, makes it difficult for women to meet their basic survival needs. According to a joint report by UNESCO and the United Nations (2002), a significant number of homeless youth, especially women, find themselves with no other option than resorting to selling themselves to meet their daily needs. The most common form of adaptation is through illegal or informal business methods to make a living, which in turn exposes women to various forms of exploitation. In this way, the role of women shifts from being threatened to becoming criminals, making their situation even more difficult.

“The Law of Provision for Women and Children without Guardians” and Legal Gaps in the Field of Women.“

Negligent.“

And in the face of violence. 

The “Women and Children’s Welfare Law” was approved on 24/8/1371, according to which social support institutions such as the Relief and Welfare Committee and other support institutions such as Social Security must strive to meet the needs of these women as “head of household” and their children, who are subject to the following conditions and characteristics:

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– His wife has passed away and he has not remarried.

He has divorced his spouse and currently does not have custody.

For some time now, she has been living separately from her husband due to their differences, but they have not divorced.

A woman whose husband is in prison or has lost his job.

He has never been married and lives alone. Sometimes women whose husbands migrate to other areas for a long time are also considered as head of household according to the definition of the law.

It is worth noting that not only do we see a serious legal gap in terms of protective laws for women who are defined as “bad mothers” according to common definitions in Iran, but we also face a serious gap in the implementation of these laws for women who are perceived as “unfit mothers”. We are still facing legal gaps in Iran in terms of elements such as preventing violence against women, and this very discrimination and violence against women can lead to many social disorders and various damages, including the phenomenon of homeless women who will remain deprived of the protection of this law due to not having a “guardian” or being labeled as “bad mothers”; because they will not be covered by any of the above clauses.