Iran Hope to Prevent Divorce with “Courting” Program
The American Free Press is reporting that, in Iran, a new program is offering young people a diploma for attending courses. The subject matter: courting.
The diploma is designed to be earned before marrying, and is part of a government plan to reduce the divorce rate in the country.
The National Youth Organisation is offering the courting diploma as an online course to teach Iranian youth how to identify the right life partner, how to know if he or she is right for marriage, how to propose, and ways to find happiness in marriage.
Designed by academics and clerics, it is an interactive course lasting three months, and to stay in the course students have to take a weekly test of their courting knowledge.
Traditionally, hardline Iranian leaders look down on dating relationships outside of wedlock, and want men and women to get together and marry in their early twenties. Single people in their thirties are looked down upon by these same traditionalists.
Conservatives rose to power in Iran five years ago, and since then their representatives in government have repeated the goal of “facilitating marriage for young people.” The population in Iran is particularly young, with 60 percent of Iran’s 70 million citizens under 30.
Statistics show, however, that the average age when couples marry has risen to 29. Economic hardship and changes in values are the main reasons that couples are marrying later in their lives. Women are driving these changes as well, as more and more go to college, for example.
The marriage diploma has received a good deal of ribbing online, which AFP calls “a torrent of jokes.” Officials, though, are adamant about the need for awareness. At the same time, however, they haven’t said much about the course itself, and what might be involved in it.
Head of the National Youth Organisation Mehrdad Bazrpash said “marriage needs hundreds of hours of education,” as he inaugurated the program in Tehran.
According to Iranian officials, the divorce rate in Iran has risen by 15.7 percent from 2008 to 2009. In that same time, there was only a 2.1 percent increase in marriages.
In Tehran, a quarter of marriages end in divorce, according to the same officials.
Psychologist and adviser to the National Youth Organisation Ahmad Borjali said that “divorce is taboo and against values, but educational work does not cost much. Face-to-face education is much more important, and this can be a start given the size of the country.”
Critics of the government have, perhaps predictably, been critical of this marriage diploma initiative as well.
“Our society is confused between tradition and modernity,” sociologist Shahla Ezazi told AFP. “Awareness is fine but the question is what kind of family they are seeking to promote. There are both traditional and arranged marriages and modern love marriages. But most propaganda is focused on reinforcing men’s leadership and women’s obedience.”
Publicity for the marriage diploma seemed to show a conservative approach to marriage, encouraging match-making and looking down on unmarried relationships.
