Western Style Feminism Not Welcome In Iran, Says First Lady

Despite months of women-led protests in Iran fighting systematic oppression, President Ebrahim Raisi’s wife claims women in Iran are content and do not seek equal rights.

In her first ever interview with a US media outlet, Jamileh Alamolhoda spoke to Newsweek, totally disregarding the last year of violent women-led uprising, dubbed Woman, Life, Freedom, which followed the death in morality police custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini.

As if there were no such uprising, she told Newsweek: "Women in Iran have not fought for their rights because they already enjoy their rights and that is due to the preservation of their dignity in society by men.

"The feminist movement from other parts of the world has also not found its way in Iran, and that is primarily due to the fact that it is inclined toward violence. As opposed to that, women in Iran prefer tranquility rather than being exposed to violence through the feminist approach."

The bizarre interview from Alamolhoda, the daughter of the hardline ultra conservative Friday Imam of the religious city of Mashhad, Ahmad Alamolhoda, comes amid a propaganda campaign being waged by the couple, which has also seen Raisi claim that women enjoy "unparalleled" rights in Iran, and denying the regime's race to nuclear armament. 

It also came while new legislation to oppress hijab rebels was passed in parliament. The 'hijab and chastity' law was approved Wednesday, and will see even stricter crackdowns than are in place already. Over the last year, women refusing to wear the mandatory hijab have faced bans from public places, education, shops and malls, and have had severe punishments including fines and imprisonment.

The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) has described the situation of women in Iran as “dire”. Since last year's unrest, at least 2,003 women were reprimanded in different ways, according to the rights group, including being summoned to police, for flouting the hijab.