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Many young Iranians cite
the country's strict social mores and pressure to get married as a heavy burden
©Fred Dufour (AFP)
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An alarming rise in the number of young Iranians who are
shunning marriage prompted an unprecedented step from the government on Monday
-- the launch of a matchmaking website.
The move has been
triggered by deep unease in the Islamic republic, where sex outside marriage is
forbidden, that the family unit is eroding and by fears of a potential fall in
population.
AFP report continues:
At pains to point out it
was not an online dating service, officials said the "Find Your
Equal" website hoped to reverse a surge in numbers, currently 11 million,
of young single adults.
It will use a network of
matchmakers -- clerics and professionals of good standing in their communities,
such as doctors and teachers -- to try to pair people off.
Having trialled the
system, which will be free, for a year in which officials said 130
intermediaries introduced 3,000 men and women -- with 100 couples getting
married -- it will now launch fully.
The aim is for 100,000
marriages over the next 12 months.
"We face a family
crisis in Iran," Mahmoud Golzari, a deputy minister for sport and youth,
told reporters at the unveiling of hamsan.tebyan.net in Tehran.
"There are many
people who are single, and when that happens it means no families and no
children," he said, defending the need for the website.
"This should have
happened a long time ago," he added.
Supreme leader Ayatollah
Ali Khamenei, who wants Iran's population of 80 million to nearly double to 150
million by 2050, last year urged officials to take new steps to improve the
birth rate.
The government has since
reversed past policies to control population growth, with legislation to cancel
subsidies for condoms and birth control pills and eliminate free vasectomies.
The matchmaking website
is another step: people register online and the matchmaker tries to come up
with a suitable partner from its database.
Users must state their
age, height, weight and build, eye colour, education level and languages
spoken, whether they smoke and list their hobbies and interests.
- Social divide -
But in a hint at Iran's
economic and social divide -- millions of poor families live on a few hundred
dollars a month and the middle class has been hit by sanctions -- other
questions dig deeper.
Women, who must be veiled
in Iran, have to state their preferred mode of Islamic dress, be it a
traditional loose head-to-toe black chador or a more modern tight-fitting coat.
Both sexes are also asked
their religion -- Iran is 90 percent Shiite Muslim -- and their level of faith,
and whether they would like to live abroad.
If a potential match is
found, family meetings and psychological testing to try to ensure the two are
compatible will follow.
Economic factors, such as
high youth unemployment, are blamed for rising marriage ages -- the national
average is 28.1 for men and 23.4 for women. In Tehran it is higher, at 30.6 and
26.7 respectively.
Many young Iranians also
cite the country's strict social mores and pressure to get married as a heavy
burden, but religious families blame a Western cultural invasion for eroding
traditional values.
Although online dating
sites are banned in Iran, around 350 operate illegally. Millions of young
adults also use Facebook and social media to hook up despite such sites being
prohibited.
Zohre Hosseini, project
manager for the matchmaking site, acknowledged that young people faced
difficulties.
"We don't claim that
we are solving all the problems," she said.
"But the problem we
are tackling here is that of finding a partner."
Hitting the planned
number of marriages could be a tall order, said Fatemeh, a single 24-year-old
middle class engineer from Tehran who said she would be perturbed at submitting
personal information online.
"I will not use this
site as I do not trust cyberspace," she said. "It's a good initiative
but whether it will have an impact is another matter."
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