175 Members of Parliament Write to Rouhani to Introduce Women Ministers

175 members of the Iranian Parliament have written a letter to the President requesting the introduction of "capable and qualified women" as ministers in the 12th government of the Islamic Republic. Meanwhile, the Supreme Administrative Council approved that 30% of the country's managers in executive bodies should be selected from among women. According to Mehr News Agency, these parliament members, in a letter read in the session on Wednesday, July 19, urged Mr. Rouhani to "utilize capable and qualified women not only in the vice presidency but also at the ministerial level in line with sustainable development, where women are key agents of this development." Following Hassan Rouhani's re-election as president, some parliament members and political activists have called for greater female representation in his second government. Additionally, several women's rights activists and former and current female parliament members presented a list of female candidates for ministerial and other managerial positions to Es'hagh Jahangiri, Rouhani's first vice president, on July 15. However, some political activists, including Ashraf Boroujerdi and Azar Mansouri, have stated that it is likely that no women will be proposed for ministerial positions in Rouhani's suggested list to the parliament. After his re-election, Rouhani did not directly comment on the selection of female ministers but stated on July 24 that the presence of women in high managerial positions "must be done step by step" and that women cannot be placed "all at once in a high management level." However, two months prior, in the first meeting of the cabinet after his re-election, he called for greater involvement of women and youth in managerial positions, stating that in the elections, the voices of the people, including minorities, women, and youth, were heard. In Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's second government, for the first time in the Islamic Republic of Iran, three female ministers were introduced, with the parliament only voting for Marzieh Vahid Dastjerdi to take the position of Minister of Health. In Rouhani's first government, no female ministers were introduced, but Elham Aminzadeh served as the legal advisor to the president, Masoumeh Ebtekar as the head of the Department of Environment, and Shahindokht Molaverdi as the vice president for women and family affairs. In 2016, Ms. Aminzadeh was appointed as the advisor to the president on citizen rights, and Majid Ansari replaced her as the legal advisor to the president. In Rouhani's government, four women were also appointed as deputy ministers, including Marzieh Shahdaei, the first woman to be appointed as the CEO of the National Petrochemical Company and deputy minister of oil after the 1979 revolution. Additionally, in July of this year, for the first time, Farzaneh Sharafbafi was appointed as the head of Iran Air (Homa). The 11th government also appointed four women as governors and 13 women as district governors for the first time. Meanwhile, the Supreme Administrative Council approved in its Tuesday session that 30% of the country's managers in executive bodies should be selected from among women. The first vice president also stated in this session that the 12th government will strive to reduce the age of the country's managers and appoint more women as managers. Human Rights Watch criticized the discrimination and obstacles faced by women in Iran's society and labor market in a report on May 24, calling on the Islamic Republic to amend its laws and social conditions to remove these barriers. According to this organization, although women "constitute more than 50% of university graduates," their participation rate in the workforce is "only 17%." Previously, the 2015 Global Gender Gap Report prepared by the World Economic Forum also ranked Iran among the bottom five countries in terms of gender equality (141 out of 145). According to the Tuesday resolution of the Supreme Administrative Council, the average age of the country's managers must be reduced by eight years by the end of the sixth development plan, which is within five years. Rouhani had previously promised that the managers of the 12th government would be younger than those of the 11th government. He stated that he inherited the 11th government in a "crisis" situation and was forced to use experienced managers in the ministries.