Fact Sheet: Gender-Based Persecution
A. Sexual Discrimination
In Iran, gender-based persecution takes the form of discriminatory national laws. Sexual discrimination in Iran is practiced in virtually all sectors of society–the home, workplace, courts–as it is institutionalized in the constitution and civil and penal codes. Examples include:
a. unequal rights to divorce and custody (a women must prove that the marriage is in violation of one of 12 grounds to be able to sue for divorce, and she automatically loses custody of her children when they reach a certain age);
b. prohibition from entering certain professional and educational fields;
c. segregation on buses, in classrooms, in certain sports activities and building entrances.1
B. Imputed PersecutionMany Iranian women are threatened, detained, tortured or killed because of their relationships with men who are themselves persecuted. They are targeted because their male relative’s political beliefs are attributed to them, or to threaten the male relative or to force her to concede information.
C. Sexual ViolenceViolence against women is a form of persecution "when it is used by or with the consent or acquiescence of those acting in an official capacity to intimidate or to punish." A government's failure to protect a woman survivor of violence renders it an agent of persecution.2 In Iran, domestic abuse, including marital rape, is traditionally tolerated as a husband's right. Therefore, survivors of abuse cannot rely on the courts or police for legal redress or protection.
D. Other ExamplesFemale genital mutilation, dowry deaths, sexual slavery, infanticide, forced marriage, forced sterilization, forced abortion, and all forms of sexual assault, including rape, as tools of repression and torture, during peacetime and war.
2. Penalties imposed because of a woman's transgression of social norms by refusing to
comply with restrictions on the rights and activities of women
The UNHCR guidelines promote recognition of persecution of women in a country "where [the]
government cannot or will not protect women who are subject to abuse for disobeying social
standards. The government need not itself have been the instigator of the
abuse."3 In this type of
persecution, Iranian refugee women have the compounded burden of proving that the treatment they
received at the hands of officials or communities constitutes a pattern of violations, and not random,
isolated incidents of criminal indictments. Iranian refugee women must successfully distinguish
between "persecution" and "prosecution." Examples of transgressions in Iran include: intentionally
or inadvertently contravening the dress code (including cosmetics, nail polish, and perfume); any
association with men outside marriage; marrying a non-Muslim; travelling alone, inside or outside
the country as a single woman, or as a married woman without the permission of the husband;
riding a bicycle in public.
II. The Refugee Definition
"Gender" is not an enumerated ground in either the UN or U.S. definition of "refugee." According to
the UN 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, and to the U.S. Refugee Act of 1980, a
refugee is "any person who is outside any country of her/his nationality. . . who is unable or unwilling
to avail him/herself of the protection of that country because of persecution or a well-founded fear of
persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or
political opinion."4 Iranian women who have transgressed discriminatory laws or customs, faced
imputed persecution, or suffered domestic violence find it difficult to prove persecution based on
those five grounds.
1. Membership in a Particular Social GroupThe ground most often used in gender-based asylum claims is "membership in a particular social
group."a. The UNHCR in its guidelines also promotes "acceptance of the principle that women
fearing persecution or severe discrimination on the basis of their gender should be
considered a member of a social group for the purposes of determining refugee
status."5
b. The Canadian guidelines recognize those women who transgress discriminatory laws
or customs as a gender-defined social group, and expands this social group to include
survivors of sexual assault, domestic violence and sexual discrimination. ". . . [T]he
woman will need to show that she has a genuine fear of harm, that her gender is the
reason for her feared harm, that the harm is sufficiently serious to amount to
persecution, that there is reasonable possibility for the fear of persecution to occur if she
returns to her country of origin and she has no reasonable expectation of adequate
national protection."6
c. The INS guidelines, however, do not expound the grounds specified in the refugee
definition, but stipulate that the violence must not be "purely personal."72. Political Opinion
A woman threatened because of her feminist views may be eligible for asylum due to
persecution based on the ground of political opinion. The UNHCR and Canadian
Immigration Board recognize women's opposition to oppressive laws and customs
imposed on women as political statements. Therefore, The INS asylum guidelines
include no explicit statement in this regard. Nevertheless, the Third Circuit federal court
in a 1993 case recognized that an Iranian asylum applicant’s feminist opposition to the
Islamic regime was an expression of a political opinion, and therefore she could be
persecuted. The court did not grant her asylum, however, because she failed to prove
that she would be persecuted if returned to Iran.