Peace begins within the family; the peace that comes out of the family and the heart of human beings can lead to the peace with the world and women have an important role in developing such kind of peace.
Women's key role in establishing peace and security in the world is a fact which has often been overlooked by and hidden from the eyes of many politicians, leaders, officials, media and even women themselves.
Recently, a number of movements, events, conferences and numerous meetings have emerged and held around the world highlighting the participation of women in political, economic and cultural scenes to bring the women into the process of making important decisions.
According to an important research conducted by The Guardian in last year, women do have a positive and significant impact on peace, as encouraging their participation increases the probability of violence ending within a year by 24%.
Advocates for greater female representation say that women are essential because they bring a more comprehensive peace plan to the negotiating table by addressing societal needs rather than solely focusing on what will make the warring parties happy.
To this end, recently, Iranian Foreign Ministry's Institute for Political and International Studies and Japan’s Sasakawa Foundation jointly held an event being the first in such a level to address the issue of women's participation in important decision-making processes at higher levels.
Iran-Japan joint Symposium on "Women, Peace and Sustainable Development" was attended by a number of Iranian and Japanese officials who discussed the cultural commonalities between Iran and Japan regarding the role of women, and how women can balance between work outside and their duties as a wife, mother and a housewife.
Exchange of experiences between the two countries especially in the field of women and family which have been obtained at a high price, is a fact that can lead to solving some of the challenges from a global point of view.
Vice President for Women and Family Affairs, Shahindokht Molaverdi, who is the Iranian side host, delivered speech at the opening expressing hope to reach a framework for cooperation between the two countries in the field of women and family at the end of the meeting.
She said the exchange of scientific, academic and economic delegations, especially the women activist, can help make operational the exchange of experiences between the two countries.
The special guest of the event, Akie Abe, Chairperson of Foundation for Encouragement of Social Contribution (FESCO) and the wife of Prime Minister of Japan Shinzō Abe, also made the remarks on the key role women can play for promoting peace and sustainable development globally.
"I don't believe women should work like men, however I think for women, there are certain ways to work so that they can empower themselves," Abe underlined addressing the participants.
Pointing to the Islamic Republic's achievements in the field of women and families, Iranian host explained that Islam attaches great importance to the concept of Family and Iran's Constitution insists that all policies and decisions made in the country should work to consolidate the foundations of the family.
Iran's approach to the empowerment of women is a bottom-up approach relying on all-round empowerment, according to the individual and collective empowerment of women, this was an important message conveyed during the meeting.
Women in the Islamic Republic of Iran have seen dramatic growth in participation in all political, economic, cultural and social areas. Over the past thirty-seven years, Iran has made a lot of efforts to improve the status of women and empowering them and always considering them mostly in the development programs.
The head of the Environmental Protection Agency Dr. Masoumeh Ebtekar emphasized the role of women in global peace and sustainable development, cooperation and exchange of experiences and knowledge between Iran and Japan in this field saying Iran and Japan have much in common, especially in the cultural field.
The advancement of women in Iran has been considerable in recent years; according to the statistics presented at the meeting, Iranian women has grown quickly in education and health, putting the country in an appropriate condition. Iranian girls have experienced 14% growth in education. The number of female students has grown from about 145000 to 2 million in recent years.
The indexes of health and life expectancy has increased in Iran for women and the country is moving towards the desired direction. The women mortality rate has seen a conspicuous increase, 75 percent, during a 4-year period, from 2008 to 2012.
Employment of women in domestic labor was one of the most important factors of women empowerment discussed during the meeting. The increase in the number of domestic jobs and women's involvement in those labors is considered as a very successful experience for the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Given the conditions, many women began to work at home and the country took home job support policies since 2010, the Iranian officials emphasized.
However, they said, given the economic and political indicators, the women in Iran have seen a very slow growth that could be promising.
For the first time, 18 women MPs have made their way to the Parliament, which is a record, showing that Iranian ladies are more present in all scenes and especially in politics and compared to the previous election, the number of women almost doubled.
Women and peace, was the basis for future decisions about the role of women and their involvement in making important social, cultural and political decisions during Iran-Japan joint meeting held in Tehran, one major focus of which was raising awareness among policy makers of the pivotal role about what role women play in communities.
The two sides were willing to pay more to the issue through the social and cultural cooperation and by sharing expertise and experiences, to implement bilateral plans and programs in this regard, which could lead to more peace and sustainable development in the local and global scope.
LR