Iranian female scholars discuss women's rights and role in government

While some politicians and activists in Iran hoped the new President would tackle gender discrimination by appointing women to top political positions, women's rights advocates remain skeptical and see the issue from a different perspective.

Their skepticism proved to be well placed when on August 11 President Masoud Pezeshkian unveiled the names of his proposed ministers and only one woman was on the list.

Four Iranian women's rights activists and academics—media activist Tahmineh Ardakani, sociologists Fatemeh Sadeghi, Fatemeh Alamdar, and Bahareh Arvin—discussed the state of gender equality recently hosted by the Free-Thinking School, a civil society institute in Tehran that has been facilitating political debates on YouTube.

Tahmineh Ardakani expressed optimism, stating that the election of Massoud Pezeshkian as Iran's new president could potentially reduce gender inequality in both society and the cabinet.

However, Fatemeh Sadeghi challenged this view, arguing that the gender divide in Iran is a broader social and political issue, not just a problem for women. She emphasized that women's political power, street violence against women over hijab, and issues like women's sports need to be societal priorities. Sadeghi also criticized previous reformist and moderate governments for their inaction, pointing out that they often blamed conservatives for blocking progress while admitting they had no intention of taking action themselves. She expressed skepticism about the current administration's ability to enact meaningful change, likening the cabinet's steering committee to a council of elders out of touch with the younger generation's demands.

Another sociologist, Fatemeh Alamdar, highlighted that gender inequality is not unique to Iran, citing a UN study indicating that nine out of ten people worldwide hold outdated views on gender roles. She noted that women in Iran face significantly greater economic and political disparities than in many other countries, with Iran ranking low on the World Economic Forum's gender gap index. Despite this, she pointed out that Iranian women are well-educated, with one in three Ph.D. holders being female, leading to high expectations for their social standing.

Alamdar said that women's economic participation is one sixth of men's contribution to economic activities. On the other hand, even in developing countries, women hold four times more seats in their parliaments than Iranian women. Based on the World Economic Forum, in terms of gender gap Iran, Chad, Algeria, Afghanistan are at the bottom of the world list. The inequality between men and women in these countries is far wider than the rest of the world.

Bahareh Arvin, another Iranian academic and sociologist said that a large part of the society did not care about the presidential election. Some probably decided not to vote as they did not hear any positive promises during the campaigns. She said in order to prioritize actions we need to see if poverty or unemployment affects women more than problems [like hijab and inequality] that are solely women's problems.

In a relevant development about women's role in the government, former lawmaker Parvaneh Salahshouri told Rouydad24 website that even the Vice President for Women's Affairs said that women who are appointed to that post lack executive powers. Ms. Salahsouri suggested that a Women's Organization need to be established in Iran to uphold women's rights. She questioned the mechanism to select the state officials mainly from among men and said that women in Saudi Arabia are in a better position in this regard compared to Iranian women.