In Iran, street vendors take over the metro

In recent years, more and more saleswomen have settled in the Iranian capital’s metro to earn a living in the context of a double economic and health crisis, reports the Iranian newspaper Food theme.

In the Tehran metro, women do multiple jobs to earn a living. Some sell their homemade products in stalls during temporary exhibitions organized by the town hall in the more than 130 stations [que compte le réseau]. Others work as sellers of various goods in shops and kiosks. Few in number, they work thanks to authorizations obtained from the municipality of the capital.

However, a large proportion of the women who work in the metro are street vendors in the carriages. They start early in the morning, and pass on several trains, changing stations from time to time to sell cheap goods: scarves, women’s underwear, fake jewelry, beauty products, especially in the few cars exclusively reserved for women. .

Making 25% of the 3 million daily trips made in the Tehran metro, women remain a significant clientele for these vendors. But the latter are also looking for other customers by offering handicrafts, flowers, pulses, saffron, fish or prayers written on scraps of paper. We hear their calls everywhere to attract customers to the cars.

crisis economy

The metro is one of the few public spaces offering a diverse transient clientele, long working hours and constant traffic, constituting an opportunity for these street vendors.

For a long time, city hall officials tried to ban them, confiscating their goods or preventing them from entering the metro. But, due to the country’s economic situation and the pandemic, many jobs have evaporated.

Hawking has become a common occupation in Iran.”

The management of the Tehran metro has recently tolerated the presence of saleswomen in the trains, but this has led to a kind of disorder. The situation requires another approach for the interests of passengers and peddlers.

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Source

Etemaad, “Confiance”, is one of the few reformist and independent dailies that still exist in Iran. Founded in 2002 by Elias Hazrati, a veteran of the Iran-Iraq war and former Member of Parliament, it is produced by a team of journalists

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