Aref Criticizes Low Participation Rate of Women

While criticisms continue regarding the lack of a female minister in Hassan Rouhani's cabinet, the head of the Hope Fraction in Parliament stated without going into details that the reason for this is not solely the government's decision and that "the root cause must be examined." Additionally, in further comments about the cabinet, Massoud Pezeshkian, the Deputy Speaker of Parliament, criticized the change of the Minister of Economy in the new cabinet. According to ISNA news agency, Mohammad Reza Aref, on Thursday, August 20, in a speech, urged Hassan Rouhani to instruct his ministers to select their deputies from among the youth. This reformist representative also stated that "at this moment, such quotas for women and youth will be our strategy." In another speech on the same day, Aref noted that over 50% of graduates from Iranian universities are women, yet the economic participation rate of women is 50% lower than that of men. He added, "There is currently no excuse for not utilizing women. Solutions must be found for why the participation rate of women is still low." Aref also mentioned that the lack of a female minister is "not solely due to the government" and that "the root cause must be examined." He did not refer to other reasons for the absence of a female minister. The head of the Hope Fraction in Parliament also stated, "Some complaints are not about why there are no women, but rather why I am not there." He added, "Women should cooperate and be friends instead of competing with each other, as the result of female competition has been the elimination of one another, and today is not the time for women to compete with each other, but rather friendship should be the basis." The absence of a female minister, despite numerous requests including from 175 members of Parliament, has drawn criticism from some political and civil activists. Meanwhile, Zahra Sadr Azam Noori, Secretary of the Reformist Women's Assembly and a member of the City Council, stated on Thursday that "we expected the share of women in the government to be more than this." Hassan Rouhani and his close associates have not commented on the reasons for the absence of a female minister. Previously, some members of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's government, including Mohammad Hosseini, the Minister of Culture, stated in interviews that religious authorities opposed the introduction of a female minister. There have also been varying reports regarding Ayatollah Khamenei's opposition or support for the introduction of a female minister. Khamenei stated in a speech on May 21, 2013, that it is "wrong to take pride in the fact that there are this many female ministers, this many female representatives, and this many female deputies in various sectors" in the Islamic Republic. However, Alireza Marandi, a former health minister and representative of the eighth Parliament, stated that Khamenei had informed him in a meeting that he did not oppose the ministry of women after Ahmadinejad introduced three female ministers, which is why he defended Marzieh Vahid Dastjerdi. In Ahmadinejad's second government, for the first time in the history of the Islamic Republic of Iran, three female ministers were introduced, with Parliament only voting for Marzieh Vahid Dastjerdi to assume the Ministry of Health. In Rouhani's first government, no female minister was introduced, but Elham Aminzadeh served as the legal advisor to the president, Masoumeh Ebtekar was the head of the Department of Environment, and Shahindokht Molaverdi was the vice president for women and family affairs. In 2016, 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 first 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. In his second government, Rouhani separately appointed Masoumeh Ebtekar as the vice president for women and family affairs, Laya Joneidi as the legal advisor, and Shahindokht Molaverdi as his assistant for citizen rights. The criticism of the dismissal of Tayebnia in Rouhani's second cabinet has led to Massoud Karbasian replacing Ali Tayebnia as the Minister of Economy. Meanwhile, according to Fars news agency, Massoud Pezeshkian stated that in the new cabinet, "not only has the economic team of the new government not become stronger, but it has also lost a good capacity and asset named Tayebnia." He emphasized that the reason for Tayebnia's dismissal is unclear. In Rouhani's first government, there were criticisms regarding the lack of coordination within the economic team of the government. In recent days, other criticisms have also been raised regarding Rouhani's proposed government. The absence of a Sunni minister, the retention of some ministers including Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli, and the introduction of Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi, a former manager of the Ministry of Intelligence, for the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology have been among these critical points. Some human rights activists have stated that Alireza Avaei, the proposed Minister of Justice, played a role in the execution of political prisoners in Khuzestan province in 1988. He, along with more than 30 other officials of the Islamic Republic, was placed on a list of banned entries to the European Union in October 2011 due to involvement in human rights violations, illegal detention, failure to observe prisoners' rights, and an increase in executions. Previously, several human rights organizations had, in an open letter, referred to Mostafa Pourmohammadi's role in the execution of political prisoners in 1988 and asked Hassan Rouhani not to introduce him as Minister of Justice in his new government. The review of the qualifications of Rouhani's proposed ministers will begin on August 15 and may take three to four days of parliamentary sessions.