Iran's President Ahmadinejad Reduces Women's Working Hours To Encourage More Births

Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Sunday announced that his administration would reduce the working hours of women in an attempt to encourage them to have more children, the New York Times reports. The announcement represents a change in a nearly two decades-long policy that encouraged men to undergo vasectomies and offered people access to no-cost birth control after a rapid population increase was "seen as an obstacle to development," according to the Times (Fathi, New York Times, 10/24). The effort aims to increase the country's population, which stands at about 70 million, the AP/Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports. "It is said that two children is enough. I oppose this," Ahmadinejad said, adding, "Our country has a lot of capacities. It even has the capacity for 120 million people" (AP/Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 10/23). Ahmadinejad said he supports women working outside their homes but fears that the time allotted to work hinders them from "performing their most important duty: raising the children of the next generation" (New York Times, 10/24).

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