Female Household Heads Entitled to Fuel Ration

Widows and divorced women should be allowed to receive subsidised fuel oil if they can prove they are the heads of their households, the director of the committee overseeing a subsidies system told Al-Thawra newspaper on May 7.



Hussein Jalali was speaking in the wake of concerns that women were being excluded from the scheme. Facing rising oil import costs, the government has curtailed the previous policy of subsidising fuel generally, and is now allocating 1,000 litres of kerosene (paraffin) per year to each household at subsidised prices.



Jalali made it clear that women can claim subsidised kerosene if they can prove they have custody of their children and do not live with their families or their divorced husbands.



According to Al-Thawra, Jalali said the vouchers are still being distributed and that every family is entitled to subsidised kerosene as long as they have the forms.



However, the newspaper did not make it clear what would happen to childless divorcees and widows, and unmarried women living alone. Women’s rights groups have complained that these groups are being excluded.