Women Of Iran Progressive

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31124, 29 July 1966, Page 2

Women Of Iran Progressive

Already Inn had mare 1 women members of Parliament and more women in high places than did New Zealand. Mrs Gnnt was describing her recent trip to Teheran where the attended the triennial conference of the International Council of Women. She said that the standards of education and workmanship there had a long way to go before they reached those of more advanced countries. Lack of education was very apparent among Teheran's taxi drivers, who were unable to read or write. This made travelling by taxi very difficult, as drivers could not find passengers’ destinations. Mrs Grant Mid she stayed in a* new hotel, considered one of the best in Teheran. On her first night she discovered that the sheets had not been changed on her bed. Beds were changed at certain times of the week regardless of how many occupants there had been during that Washbasins leaked. Mrs Grant said she felt that the taps might fall of at any time. The weather was hot and air-conditioning was available—but at 10s a night extra. Her room was on the fifth floor but the elevator was constantly out of order. The: heat made climbing stairs ai trying ordeal. Mrs Grant also visited Afghanistan briefly. She found the contrast of living conditions of rich and poor in both countries startling. Her tint place of call in Afghanistan was a police station, where she applied for a permit to stay in the country. Her host taught at a training college, in the science department He told her his’ L class included two girls. If one stayed away the other also bad to remain at home.' It was still unthinkable for

In the three years since the women of Iran had been given the right to vote, they had made good progress in public life, Mrs Doreen Grant, Dominion president of the National Council of Women, told a meeting of the Canterbury Travel Club yestbrday.

one girl to attend an all-male class. She also learned of an incident that, she said, should make a Western-born and educated girl beware of marrying a foreign student without finding what rights women had in his country, An American girl fell in love with an Afghanistan student studying in the United States. No American minister would marry them so they married in Berult. On arriving in Afghanistan, she found she had to live in a compound with all her husband’s female relatives, including his first wife, to whom he was still married and about whom the girl had not been told. Mrs Grant said the American wife had been regarded as a business investment because she was able to go out to work and help support the women of the family, including the first wife. “She cannot leave the country without her husband’s permission. I think that only the fact she can get out to work will save her sanity,” Mid Mrs Grant