This rule, which applies to physical injury as well, has also governed payments from insurance companies even though both sexes pay equal premiums.

But judiciary spokesman Alireza Jamshidi said the legislature had recently voted in favor of a proposed change, even though it must also be approved by a powerful constitutional watchdog controlled by conservative clerics.

“Henceforth the payment of blood money and damage compensation will be equal in regard to women and men,” Jamshidi told a weekly news conference.

He made clear the new law would only apply to insurance claims for people involved in traffic accidents and not to compensation in other areas, for example in murder cases.

Since a person’s agreement with an insurance company has “contractual basis and both sexes pay equal premiums, the compensation should also be equal and the law is not in contravention of the Sharia”, Jamshidi said.

Women are legally entitled to hold most jobs, but the Islamic state remains dominated by men.

Iranian women’s rights activists say they also face institutionalized discrimination in other areas of life, including divorce, inheritance and child custody.

Iranian officials reject allegations of discrimination against women. Clerics say women in Iran are protected from the sex-symbol status they have in the West and insist the Islamic Republic is implementing God’s divine law.

(Reporting by Hashem Kalantari; Editing by David Fogarty)

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsMaps/idUSDAH73535620080527?sp=true