When we talk about women’s rights, what exactly are we talking about? This question has always been one of the main concerns of women’s rights activists in order to turn this issue into a public demand. Providing a tangible representation and drawing a realistic picture of women in societies where, despite many inequalities and injustices, striving for their rights is not even among the top priorities, is one of the main objectives of the book “Women in the World and Iran”. Additionally, this book opens a new window for the readers by discussing all the various factors that play a role in the situation of women.

In the first section, in addition to introducing the countries that have signed the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, it discusses the life expectancy of women in different countries and also introduces various methods of restricting women, such as compulsory hijab and prohibition of driving in different countries.

Part two examines the status of families in terms of quantity and quality, as well as the percentage of same-sex families in America. Additionally, interesting statistics have been presented regarding age of marriage, divorce, domestic violence, and femicide.

The third section may be considered the most important section in the field of women’s rights; the discussion of the number of children, methods of preventing pregnancy and the necessary facilities for it, abortion and its legal status in different countries, and the death of mothers due to lack of healthcare facilities during childbirth, as well as the priority of having a son among them.

Ownership of the body is another controversial issue in women’s rights, which is addressed in the fourth section. The prevalence of breast cancer, the spread of AIDS, the history of women’s participation in major sports events such as the Olympics and the contribution of women to national teams of different countries, the impact of cosmetic surgeries and the level of consumption of beauty products by women in various countries, the prevalence of female genital mutilation in the world and its relation to religion and tradition in different societies, as well as the global sex trade and statistics of sexual assault, where women are the largest victims.

In the fifth section, the status of women’s presence and impact in the economy of the family and society has been examined. Equal rights, quality of workplace, equal job opportunities and income, and the rate of women’s migration in pursuit of new job markets in the world are among the topics of this section. Among the indirect factors affecting women’s rights, the coefficient of influence of sewage disposal systems and water pipelines in different communities can be mentioned. For example, there is a lower likelihood that girls will attend schools after reaching puberty in areas without adequate sewage facilities, or in countries without water pipelines, the responsibility of daily water collection and transportation falls on women and girls, taking up their time for other tasks. As a result, the rate of girls’ attendance in school is heavily dependent on the distance to water resources.

The sixth section discusses the availability or lack of availability of women to various social and welfare facilities. In addition to this, it examines factors such as the possibility of education at primary and higher levels, women’s access to the internet as a powerful agent of social change, women’s ownership of their own property, and the level of poverty among women.

The presence of women in positions of power, the right to vote, participation in the military, as well as a brief introduction to women’s rights movements and their achievements in the seventh section have been mentioned.

The eighth section also presents interesting and noteworthy statistical information for comparison among different countries.

But perhaps the turning point of this book can be found in its final section. Dr. Saeed Madani, as a social pathologist, in the ninth section with a focus on Iran and considering the local conditions and characteristics based on the latest information published by official sources, has examined the situation of women in Iran according to the main chapters of the main section.

Book Name: Women in the World and Iran

Authors: Johnny Siger, Saeed Madani

Translator: Mehdi Khodaei

Publication Date: 1395

Publisher: Rozaneh