As demand for services collapses after the war, many working women in Iran have lost their jobs or face unemployment.
With declining demand for services, driven by the economic consequences of war and rising inflation, a large number of working women in Iran have either lost their jobs or are at risk of unemployment. Since around 60 percent of women’s employment is concentrated in the service sector, the downturn in areas such as tourism, educational centers, and service-related businesses has hit this group of workers hardest.
As demand for services has fallen as a direct consequence of the recent war, a significant number of women employed in the service sector have become unemployed. According to official statistics, around 60 percent of employed women in Iran work in services.
In a report published on Sunday, May 3, 2026, the daily Shargh wrote that women who had worked in beauty salons, gyms, cosmetic clinics, hotels, travel agencies, insurance offices, consulting firms, online and traditional shops, or as domestic cleaners and childcare workers say that high inflation and wartime conditions have made many of these services seem nonessential, sharply reducing demand for such jobs.
The report cites figures from the Statistical Center of Iran, which put annual inflation in April 2026 at 53.7 percent and point-to-point inflation at 73.5 percent. Under these conditions, many services have come to appear unnecessary to consumers, especially as the consequences of a war with an uncertain outcome still hang over the country and many middle- and lower-income people have become more cautious in their daily spending.
According to Shargh, the tourism and hotel industries have been almost completely shut down. Labor-market observers also stress that demand has fallen significantly for beauty services, leisure activities, consulting, insurance, childcare, and domestic cleaning. This is while the largest share of women’s employment in the country, more than 60 percent, is concentrated precisely in the service sector.
According to the Statistical Center of Iran, out of a working-age population of around 65 million, only 24 million people are employed. In other words, only about one-third of those eligible to work in the country have jobs. Of these jobs, men account for around 85 percent and women for only 15 percent, with most of this already small share concentrated in services.
Zahra Karimi, an economist and labor-market expert, told Shargh (a reformist Iranian newspaper) that Iran’s labor market still has a traditional and male-dominated structure. Even in the service sector, where nearly 10 million people are active, women account for fewer than two million workers, and their economic participation is estimated at below 14 percent. This is despite the fact that over the past two decades women have obtained higher education, while fair conditions for competition have not been made available to them.
After the outbreak of war, a large number of working women, especially in government offices and small production units, were among the first groups to lose their jobs. This was because of a common assumption that women do not need employment as much as men do. Yet a significant number of working women are heads of household.
According to Karimi, many of those who lost their jobs because of the war, including women, had no insurance or unemployment protection.
Although precise figures on unemployment caused by the recent war are not available, estimates suggest that at least one million formal jobs were lost, and that, when informal businesses are included, up to four million people may have become unemployed during the war and its aftermath. Gholamhossein Mohammadi, deputy minister of labor, has also spoken of the destruction of more than one million direct jobs, a figure that reaches two million when indirect effects are taken into account.
During the 39-day war, several of the country’s largest steel and petrochemical production units suffered serious damage from airstrikes, and their production lines were shut down. Other commercial and manufacturing units were also damaged. Under these conditions, the heaviest economic pressure falls on families whose main income earner has lost their job.
