Statement of the Abroad Committee of the Communist Party of Iran on the Occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women

November 25 is a reminder of the continued struggle of millions of women around the world against the oppression, discrimination, and violence of the patriarchal class system. This day is a call to expose and fight against the structures that produce, reproduce, and systematically impose violence on women.

The world under the domination of neoliberalism has become filled with violence against humanity and nature, and violence against women is part of the functioning of this political and economic system of patriarchal class rule, which manifests itself in various forms of oppression and violence, including domestic violence, state violence, and social violence against women, continually taking victims among them. Violence against women is a global phenomenon because, within the dominant world system, the oppression of women is an inseparable and necessary part of its functioning.

Today, despite the broad and comprehensive struggles across the world against violence toward women, every day we continue to witness widespread violent acts against women in both society and the home. The existence of Islamic governments in opposition to women’s demands has increasingly given the women’s movement a political character, because women are confronting patriarchal and religious political powers. Violence in the home and society is widely carried out with the support of these governments. The state and its affiliated institutions, under the banner of religious and tribal traditions and culture, fail to legally prosecute or punish perpetrators.

It is evident that economic, political, social, and cultural factors have a profound impact on the lives of individuals in society. The more a society becomes engulfed in economic and political crises and war, the more the ruling class resorts to repressive and violent methods in order to preserve itself and maintain control over the existing order. At the same time, the more violence increases in society, the more women are exposed to violence. The latest examples of this can be observed in Sudan, Palestine and Gaza, Ukraine, Afghanistan, and Iran.

Domestic violence against women is one of the most common forms of violence against women, exercised by male family members in order to consolidate their power within the family and make women obedient and submissive. Violence against women in the home is not limited to physical violence. Verbal abuse, insults, humiliation beginning from childhood, restrictions on work and education, economic dependence on the male head of household even when women themselves are employed, honor killings, the sale of girls, child marriage, forced marriage, rape within the family, and women’s suicide and self-immolation are among the clear examples of domestic violence that continually harm women and take victims among them.

Women also continuously face direct state violence in society, such as compulsory hijab, gender segregation, restrictions on social interaction with men who are not family members in public spaces, and repression related to participation in political and artistic activities, including arrest, torture, and imprisonment. All of these forms of violence, direct and indirect, are carried out under the protection of the existing order, patriarchal laws, and a misogynistic system.

The struggle to abolish violence against women is a comprehensive and organized struggle against the entire violent, exploitative, and misogynistic system, and it will reach its conclusion with the support of other freedom-seeking and justice-oriented movements in society.

Fortunately, in Iran the women’s movement has been expanding for more than a decade and took on a political and mass character during the uprisings of 2017 and 2019, reaching its peak in the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement, which brought major transformations to the anti-dictatorial movement of the people of Iran.

Today, despite all the severe repression by the Islamic Republic regime, it can be said that the people of Iran, especially women, are determined this time to free themselves once and for all from the grip of this dictatorial system. They are advancing their demands and aspirations in increasingly radical ways, and women have risen up against this regime and taken up struggle against the existing laws and order. Success in this arena requires an organized struggle in which all oppressed sections of society are mobilized.

On this international day, while honoring the memory of all women who lost their lives in the struggle for freedom or who remain imprisoned in the regime’s prisons, we once again emphasize the necessity of an organized, conscious, and fundamental struggle against all forms of structural, individual, and social violence against women. We believe that the struggle against violence toward women is an inseparable part of the struggle to overthrow the entire oppressive system and establish an equal, free, and just society. Only through a fundamental transformation of structures of power and the destruction of the patriarchal class system can the real liberation of women be achieved.

Abroad Committee of the Communist Party of Iran
November 22, 2025