A/HRC/31/26 maturity. They stated that the average age for marriage for men and women in urban areas was 26.7 and 23.4 years, respectively. 38. Under article 1117 of the Civil Code men are allowed to prevent their wives from being employed (in the public or private sector) if they consider the work to be “incompatible with the interests of the family or with his or his wife’s dignity”. 36 Article 1108 of the Code requires women to be submissive to men and specifies that they may lose their rights, including to maintenance, if they fail to respond to the sexual needs of their husband. According to article 1133, women seeking to divorce must prove before the court that their marriage imposes an intolerable level of difficulty and hardship in order to be granted the right to request a divorce; this requirement does not apply to men. International human rights law guarantees gender equality in the family, including when entering into marriage, during marriage and at its dissolution. The lack of equality with respect to these stages leads to discrimination against women and girls and makes them vulnerable to domestic violence. 39. The Secretary-General notes the improvement in gender parity recorded in The Global Gender Gap Report 2015, which shows a gender parity index of 0.98 for enrolment in primary education. However, in the report the Islamic Republic of Iran is ranked 106 of 145 countries in terms of educational attainment, according to a calculation that includes the literacy rate and enrolment at all levels of education. 37 In this context, the gender gap among out-of-school children of primary-school age is particularly alarming, with 63 per cent of girls not enrolled in primary education compared with 35 per cent of boys. 40. The Islamic Republic of Iran was ranked 141 out of 145 countries in terms of women’s economic participation and opportunity, with unemployment among women reaching 19.8 per cent, compared with 8.6 per cent for men. 38 While acknowledging the low rate of women’s economic participation, the authorities stressed that various ministries and economic institutions were working to reduce the gap by allocating entrepreneurship facilities to women, facilitating technical and vocational training, granting loans and providing increased credit for women heads of household. 41. The Secretary-General remains concerned about the extremely low political representation of women in the Islamic Republic of Iran, noting that only 3.1 per cent of parliamentarians are women. Women generally remain underrepresented in decisionmaking positions. Moreover, a ban on women judges presiding over courts and issuing verdicts remains in place. Women have never served in the Guardian Council or in high positions in the Expediency Council (CCPR/C/IRN/CO/3). The Comprehensive Population and Exaltation of Family Bill, adopted on 2 November 2015, further excludes women from the labour market, as it gives priority to men (A/70/368). The Secretary-General expresses his concern regarding the new law as it reinforces discriminatory stereotypes of women. In their response to the present report, the authorities indicated that women were represented at the highest political level, including as vice-presidents, vice-ministers, advisers to ministers, directors-general, governors, mayors, judicial counsellors and judges. They noted that the Government had appointed its first woman ambassador in 2015. 42. The Secretary-General is concerned about the Bill to Increase Fertility Rates and Prevent Population Decline (No. 446), currently before the parliament, as it would increase restrictions on women’s right to accurate information on contraception and reduced childbearing, restricting such information to access to educational material to prevent 36 37 38 12 See www.amnesty.ch/de/laender/naher-osten-nordafrika/iran/dok/2015/iran-frauen-sollen-zugebaermaschinen-degradiert-werden/you-shall-procreate (in German). See http://reports.weforum.org/global-gender-gap-report-2015/economies/#economy=IRN. Ibid.