DW
December 17, 2025
Iranian lawmakers have pushed through changes to the dowry law, further weakening women's rights and aggravating gender discrimination in the Islamic Republic.
Iranian lawmakers have pushed through changes to the dowry law, further weakening women's rights and aggravating gender discrimination in the Islamic Republic.
The dowry remains the only legal tool to provide a modicum of financial security for women in Iran, in the event of divorce and in inheritance law
Image: Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto/IMAGO
The Iranian parliament has adopted changes to the dowry law, with members of parliament describing them as "urgently necessary."
The proposal's swift passage stands in stark contrast to other legislative measures, such as the draft bill for better protection of women against domestic violence, which has been under discussion for 14 years.
In Iran, a groom or his family usually pays a dowry, or "Mehrieh," to his wife. It often takes the form of gold coins, but it can also include cash, property and other items. The dowry, which is negotiated before marriage and legally treated as debt, can be claimed by the wife at any time during a marriage or when getting divorced.
The new, more lenient policy sharply lowers the threshold for the amount a man must pay his wife in the event of divorce to avoid imprisonment — from 110 gold coins to just 14 coins. Each coin is about 8 grams of gold.
The dowry, which is voluntarily agreed upon before marriage, remains the only legal tool to provide a modicum of financial security for women in Iran, in the event of divorce and in inheritance law.
The Iranian parliament has adopted changes to the dowry law, with members of parliament describing them as "urgently necessary."
The proposal's swift passage stands in stark contrast to other legislative measures, such as the draft bill for better protection of women against domestic violence, which has been under discussion for 14 years.
In Iran, a groom or his family usually pays a dowry, or "Mehrieh," to his wife. It often takes the form of gold coins, but it can also include cash, property and other items. The dowry, which is negotiated before marriage and legally treated as debt, can be claimed by the wife at any time during a marriage or when getting divorced.
The new, more lenient policy sharply lowers the threshold for the amount a man must pay his wife in the event of divorce to avoid imprisonment — from 110 gold coins to just 14 coins. Each coin is about 8 grams of gold.
The dowry, which is voluntarily agreed upon before marriage, remains the only legal tool to provide a modicum of financial security for women in Iran, in the event of divorce and in inheritance law.
'Deeply misogynistic system'
In the event of divorce, unlike in the West, Iranian law does not provide for the division of property. If the husband dies, the wife receives only one-eighth of his movable property.
Real estate such as houses or land goes to the children or, if there are none, to the parents of the deceased. If there are neither children nor parents, the wife receives one-quarter of the property, with the remainder taken over by the state.
"We are dealing with a system that is deeply misogynistic in its ideology," women's rights activist Mahdieh Golrou told DW.
The 40-year-old, who has been living abroad since 2019, has been arrested several times in Iran for her campaigning in favor of women's rights and democracy.
Golrou underscored how Iranian women have been resisting the Islamic theocratic regime and fighting for self-determination since the death of 22-year-old Jina Mahsa Amini in police custody and the resulting nationwide protests under the slogan "Woman, Life, Freedom” in 2022.
Women who refuse to wear the mandatory headscarf in public have had a major impact on the image of women in Iranian society.
"Their struggle and civil resistance are far from over, because this system is always finding new ways to undermine women's rights, such as through the reform of the dowry law," said Golrou. "Women's desire for more rights is in fundamental conflict with the ideology and identity of the Islamic Republic's political system, which does not recognize women as equal citizens."
Iranian women lack protection against domestic violence
The draft bill on domestic violence is a case in point. For 14 years, Iranian lawmakers have been debating a bill designed to protect women from violence in the family.
The draft has been amended and watered down several times, but has still not been passed.
A tragic case is that of journalist Mansoureh Ghadiri Javid, who was brutally murdered in November 2024 by her husband, a lawyer.
Ghadiri Javid was known for her well-researched articles on women's rights.
Her family says she had been subjected to domestic violence for years.
If she had taken legal action, she would have lost custody of her only child, as in Iran, custody of children is generally granted to the father.
Due to a lack of state support, many victims do not even report incidents to authorities, making it difficult to compile reliable statistics on domestic violence.
"There is surprisingly quick agreement within the political system when it comes to the oppression of women," Nasrin Sotoudeh, human rights lawyer and Sakharov Prize winner, told DW. "The women's issue is one of the few points on which all political camps agree and a means by which the government seeks to consolidate its authority," she added.
The lawyer, who lives in Tehran and has not worn a headscarf in public for a long time, said that Iran's clerical regime has repeatedly shown how it demonstrates its power in times of crisis. "When the government faces unsolvable problems, it turns to issues it considers controllable. The oppression of women has become a central instrument of state power demonstration."
Resisting patriarchal norms
Making changes to the dowry law should also be seen as a signal to conservatives who support the theocratic system for religious and traditional reasons.
Iranian women have been resisting these norms for years, which is also reflected in the rising divorce rates in the country.
According to the ISNA news agency, around 42% of marriages in Iran currently end in divorce. In the capital Tehran, the rate is over 50%. By comparison, the divorce rate in Germany stands at around 35%.
In the event of divorce, many women use the agreed dowry as a bargaining chip, for instance to obtain custody of the children.
At the same time, according to Iranian sources, the proportion of women who actually receive the dowry is extremely low, at around 3%. And the number of men currently imprisoned for non-payment of the dowry stands at less than 3,000.
Still, Iranian parliamentarians deemed it necessary to change the dowry law and lower the threshold for criminal enforcement in case of non-payment to 14 gold coins.
Although the husband still owes his wife the full agreed dowry, he no longer faces imprisonment for non-payment above this level.
In practice, however, it now remains unclear when and how these debts will be settled.
Mitra Shodjaie contributed to this report.
This article was originally written in German.
Shabnam von Hein German-Iranian journalist at DW's Asia department
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