Iranian Parliament has approved all amendments to the family planning act, doing away will all forms of restrictions on the number of children that working parents can have.
The Khaneh Mellat website reports that the amendments were passed, dropping all restrictions on working parents and increasing maternity leave for working mothers from six to nine months. Fathers are also given an obligatory two-week leave.
Previous restrictions around having a fourth child have also been dropped from the act, and now such children will be afforded insurance and their mothers will receive the same amount of leave as any other mother.
In the past year, Iran’s Supreme Leader has called on Iranians to have more children, stressing that his earlier message of reducing the number of children born was an error of judgement.
After the 1979 Revolution, Iran’s population took a sudden leap, leading Islamic Republic authorities to implement a series of population-control policies, which were quite effective.
In the past two years, the government has reversed its policy, claiming the country has the capacity to grow in population. However, some MPs voted against the changes, citing high unemployment among the young people as a concern that needs to be addressed before making such changes.
