Spox: No legal ban on women receiving motorcycle license
Iranian government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani said on Tuesday there is no legal restriction on issuing motorcycle licenses to women, citing the presidential legal affairs office, though current law still limits the permits to men.
She told reporters at her weekly briefing at the Ministry of Cooperatives Labour and Social Welfare that the government had not drafted any bill on the matter because it sees no legal barrier to licensing women. A previous parliamentary proposal, she added, had failed to advance.
“Our country has many capable women who skillfully operate everything from tractors in rural areas to aircraft, buses and heavy vehicles,” Mohajerani said, stressing the administration would welcome a resolution to what she called a problem.
Vice-President for Women and Family Affairs Zahra Behrouz-Azar said on August 31 that the government believes no new law is needed for women to ride motorcycles and that inter-agency coordination was under way.
“Women’s motorcycling is no different from their work as pilots or drivers. We already see women active in national, international and aviation transport, and it is natural they need motorcycles for daily mobility,” Behrouz-Azar said, adding that legal reviews had been carried out since the start of the current administration.
She emphasized that existing regulations are sufficient and that implementation only requires cooperation among authorities. Behrouz-Azar also noted safety concerns, saying women tend to drive cautiously and use helmets, which she said could improve road safety overall.