Facilitating and encouraging actions of Vice Presidency for Women and Family Affairs for marriage, on the occasion of on the occasion of the anniversary of the heavenly union of Imam Ali (as) and Fatemeh Zahra
Meanwhile congratulating the marriage week, which began on the of ۲۱st of July and coincides with the first of Dhu al-Hijjah, the anniversary of the heavenly union of Imam Ali (as) and Fatemeh Zahra (as), she reminded about the efforts made in the matter of marriage and said, ” Every correct and fundamental work is done based on correct knowledge and information, with this said, we tried to establish actions based on correct knowledge of the family and marital status in matters such as marriage and family formation.”
She continued,”For achieving this goal, the Vice Presidency for Women and Family Affairs, in addition to some universities and research centers’ studies and surveys in the country, along with the executive organization made a move and supported the family matter. One of these was the National Family Survey which nearly thousands of people participated and based on which good results were obtained. The majority of society is against child marriage.”
The Vice President stated that the survey was conducted by the Academic Center for Education, Culture, and Research(ACECR) in cooperation with its Vice President in early ۲۰۱۸, evaluating the public attitude towards marriage and restated, ” The survey found that ۷۰% of people do not see marriage as an obstacle to progress. Also, the view of young and educated people on marriage is more balanced.”
In another part of the reading of this survey, Ebtekar pointed to the maximum opposition of people to the child marriage and said, “According to this survey, the appropriate average age of marriage from people’s point of view is over ۱۶ to ۲۵ years old, which shows that the majority of society opposes child marriage.”
Trust, honesty, love, and kindness are the criteria of marriage from the popular point of view
She said that the majority of the society agrees with the subject of boys proposing to girls, noting that from more than ۹۰% of people, the criteria for choosing a spouse respectively are trust, honesty, love, and kindness. Being a relative or wealthy have been of lesser importance.
The Vice President continued by stating that ۸۰% of people look at marriage as a permanent bond and more than ۷۰% of respondents believe that if the family disagrees with their marriage, they will not get married because they believe the family must agree. Whereas by this survey we understand that the family pressure for marriage in illiterate and low literate people is more than people with literate families.
Removal of marriage economic barriers by allocating ۳۰,۰۰۰ billion tomans of marriage loans
Ebtekar mentioned, “This study covers various dimensions which the basis of the work of the Deputy Minister for Marriage and Family was institutionalized, on that premise, the government reviewed and strengthened the policies of previous years.”
“One of these cases was the impact of economic issues on the delay of marriage, which gave priority to provide marriage loans and therefrom in ۲۰۱۹, ۳۰,۰۰۰ billion tomans was allocated for loans to one million people.” The highest loan repayment rate ever. A loan that the delay and expectation of receiving it have also decreased, she added.”
From promoting easy marriage to housing allowances for newlyweds
The Vice President expressed her support for the establishment of easy marriage structures amongst other actions of the Vice President and the Government and said,” The government, specifically the Ministry of Sports and Youth, took responsibility and provided the essential supports to families in need with the support of organizations. A matter that we have not overlooked despite the Coronavirus situation, as the president always emphasizes on marriage and family formation in Coronavirus conditions without the ceremonies that lead to the aggregation.”
Ebtekar explained, “A matter that, on the one hand, helps to reduce the costs of marriage ceremonies, and on the other hand, it reduces false excuses and objections related to ceremonies, because everyone knows that Coronavirus is an issue that does not recognize rich and poor, and has overshadowed all individuals in the country.”
She emphasized that paying attention to housing and providing loans for housing deposits, especially for newlyweds, is another action to facilitate marriage and added, “Also, in issues such as employment, efforts have been made to give priority to young people who have been married.”
Pre-marriage, during, and post-marriage education approval for couples’ skill training
Emphasizing that the definition of a healthy and stable family was compiled and approved for the first time by scientific studies and researches in the field of the family in the form of an index, the Vice President said, ” The characteristics of economic capability, leisure time, mental health, authority and rights, mutual respect, and communication skills were considered and studied. These studies showed that there is a serious disruption in the discussion of communication skills. These studies showed that there is a serious disruption in the discussion of communication skills, and we implemented the National Family Dialogue Plan to strengthen the communication skills of family members.”
With the approval of the previous, during, and after marriage training in the National Headquarters for Women and Family in ۲۰۱۷, it was approved that these trainings were done in a comprehensive and qualified manner, according to which it became clear to government agencies such as education, health, the propaganda, and religious agencies about what they had to do.
The necessity of amending some laws and customs to facilitate and encourage marriage
Ebtekar by emphasizing that despite all efforts to increase the age of marriage, still in border areas or areas, where the dominant subcultures are, help with marriages under the age of ۱۳ exist and girls are married at a very young age, also added, ” We do not have a problem with marriage of a person at a young age who has reached to a right understanding and making decisions, and that’s why we are against the marriage under the age ۱۳. Therefore, we proposed a bill banning marriage under the age of ۱۳, which we hope to be able to announce the results of these efforts very soon.”
From registering marriage stipulation in the marriage certificate to the proposal of adding the mother’s family name in the child’s birth certificate
The Vice President mentioned another positive step in the matter of marriage which is the possibility of adding marriage stipulations in the marriage certificate, and said: “An important event and a good amendment that was resulted in a consultation with the judiciary to help facilitate marriage.”
In another part of her speech about amending the laws to facilitate marriage, she noted, “The suggestion of adding the mother’s family name in the children’s birth certificate has been given, which we hope we can complete this good proposal, and it may be solved with a regulation or circular.”
Ebtekar emphasized that the facilitation of laws helps in the matter of marriage and noted, “The Holy Qur’an also emphasizes that marriage is for having comfort and peace, and for this to happen requires conditions and requirements, one of which is the subject of the law, and another is the teaching of life skills, behavior, ethics, and lifestyle.”
She explained, “Therefore law, culture, skill, and behavior together can help facilitate marriage, while our dear sons and daughters remember that since love is of the kindness and mercy of God if they enter into a marriage with love, God gives his blessings as he has promised.”
In the case of marriage, generalization does not make sense anymore
The Vice President said the government and officials also must provide the infrastructure and stressed that we no longer have generalizations about marriage, also noted, “Fortunately, the bills for the advancement of women, which were unveiled in ۳۱ provinces has a family and marriage chapter that deals with the methods of promoting marriage in that particular province based on the exact situation of the culture and customs of each region and province.
” By implementing these bills, generalization no longer makes sense and we do not only have plans for the marriage week, rather, the program of the twelfth government is also continuous, permanent, scientific which is in accordance with the requirements, conditions, and needs of each region approved by the Planning Council, Ebtekar stated.”
Vice Presidency for Women and Family Affairs