Iran: The status of a widow: social attitudes and her rights to employment and housing; her rights in the event that her late husband's parents contest custody of her children; and the distinction in Iranian law between "guardianship" and "custody"

Information on custody of children in the event of the death of one of the children's parents can be found in Response to Information Request IRN24008.E of 8 July 1996 and attachments; and information on the role of the guardian can be found in the excerpts from the Iranian Civil Code attached to Response to Information Request IRN26308.E of 2 April 1997.

A professor of sociology at York University in Toronto, who specializes in Iranian women's issues, informed the Research Directorate that a widow has the right to custody of her sons up to age 2 and her daughters up to age 7, the same rights as those of a divorcée. If she has children over those ages she may have to contest custody in court against their paternal grandfather, if the paternal grandfather does not cede custody to the mother voluntarily (30 June 1998). The professor also said that it is legal for a widow to live on her own and work outside her home, but that a young widow without children would be the object of a certain amount of social stigmatization if she lived on her own, and would be subject to "social and cultural pressures to remarry" (4 June 1998).

Discussing the difference between custody and guardianship, the same professor told the Research Directorate that "the woman's right to custody is limited to the physical upkeep of the children and does not include legal guardianship (velayat or sarparasti) which is the non-negotiable legal right of the father and the paternal grandfather in case of the husband's death" (ibid., 28 April 1998).

The following information on the difference between custody and guardianship was provided to the Research Directorate on 29 May 1998 by a political scientist and editor of Iran Nameh, a journal specializing in Iranian affairs published in Bethesda, Maryland.

Custody in Iran implies taking care of children, taking care of their health and hygiene, preparing them for school, etc. According to Iranian regulations, "Guardianship" is the father's or grandfather's right, regardless of whether husband and wife live together or are separated. The mother has no rights for guardianship of her children. Guardianship means taking care of all financial matters related to children, giving permission to them to leave the country or get married, and making any other important decision in the child's life. Therefore when the court gives custody of children to their mother, this does not mean that the mother can interfere in the child's financial matters, take the child out of the country, etc. Custody simply means performing the tasks necessary to raise the child (29 May 1998).

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the list of additional sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

References

Political scientist and editor of Iran Nameh, Bethesda, Md. 29 May 1998. Letter to Research Directorate.

Professor of sociology, York University, Toronto. 4 June, 30 June 1998. E-mail communications.

_____. 28 April 1998. Letter to Research Directorate.

Additional Sources Consulted

Electronic sources: IRB databases, Global News Bank, REFWORLD, WNC.