The Share of Women Representatives in the Majlis After the Revolution

Two weeks ago, we promised to address the presence of women in the elections for the tenth Majlis. Farnoush Amirshahi, a former parliamentary reporter, is a guest on the program 'Another Voice.' Ms. Amirshahi, let's start from here: how has the share of women's participation in the Islamic Consultative Assembly been from the beginning until now? Farnoush Amirshahi: From the very first term of the Islamic Consultative Assembly until today, which is the ninth term, the total number of female representatives has been 78, which is about 4% of the total representatives in the Majlis. This number is actually lower because in some terms, several women were representatives for multiple consecutive terms. Therefore, the number of women who have entered the Majlis is only 50. Given that we have gone through 9 terms of the Islamic Consultative Assembly with more than 280 representatives, it seems that women's participation has been very low. Have the reasons for the low participation of women been identified so far? There are various reasons for this issue. Perhaps the first and most important reason is that the political work environment in Iran is male-dominated and costly. This cost is certainly higher for women, and women prefer not to enter this space and not incur this cost. Additionally, the prevailing view of the government towards women's political participation is one that prefers women to remain more at home. This claim is evidenced by various bills that have been proposed in different parliamentary terms concerning women and have been rejected by the Guardian Council. Proposals such as Iran's accession to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, sending female students abroad, insurance for women without guardians, and issues of this nature have been rejected by the Guardian Council. Most of these rejections are due to incompatibility with Sharia, jurisprudence, and law, and even budget constraints. Therefore, women's issues, especially women's political participation, have not been a priority for the Islamic Republic system until now. Another point is the way representatives enter the Majlis. The selective nature of the process, which applies not only to women but also to men, who must pass through the Guardian Council, creates another filtering process that prevents a large number of women from having the opportunity to participate. The third point is that women themselves may not have yet succeeded in organizing their capabilities and stepping into electoral competitions and the realm of power. However, a new issue is now being raised: the issue of gender quotas for women's entry into the Islamic Consultative Assembly. The gender quota proposal is not a new idea. Different governments have implemented this proposal at various times. For instance, it was implemented in Afghanistan. After the Taliban's departure from Afghanistan, this proposal was executed in various provinces, effectively creating a positive discrimination in favor of women to increase their participation. They were placed on electoral lists. Of course, given that women were eligible to vote, this capability allowed them to increase women's participation in parliament to 25%. Now this proposal has been raised in Iran, which has both supporters and opponents. I would like to refer to the statements of the Deputy Advisor for Women's Cultural and Social Affairs, who, while confirming that women should have social presence, stated that quotas are a rejected model and that no country does this, and Iran should not copy the mistakes of the past hundred years of Europe. It seems that Ms. Fereshteh Rouhafza pays no attention to the neighboring countries of Iran and the experiences they are currently undertaking. But regarding the opponents, Ms. Minou Aslani, head of the Women's Society of Basij, has stated that the issue of gender quotas interferes with people's opinions, forcing them to vote based on gender. According to Ms. Minou Aslani, this issue contradicts the constitution and is not in line with meritocracy and religious democracy. Ms. Amirshahi, why are the first and most serious opponents of this proposal women representatives in the Majlis and women who have managed to find a place in the power structure of the Islamic Republic? It is true that this proposal has opponents. But it is interesting to note that right now a proposal has been raised in the Majlis that we might say is unprecedented and in some respects can be seen as similar to this gender quota. This issue was first raised by the newspaper Shargh, which reported that Mr. Ali Larijani, the Speaker of the Majlis, proposed to the Women's Faction of the ninth Majlis to collaborate with the Guardian Council to implement a plan to increase women's participation in parliament. Then, Ms. Fatemeh Rahbar, in interviews with news agencies, proposed two plans, the outcomes of which are still uncertain. One proposal was that any constituency with more than 5 seats in the Majlis must allocate one of its seats to women, which would result in 25 female representatives in the Majlis. Another proposal was that at least one woman from each province should be included in the electoral lists. In this case, we would have at least 31 women representatives in the Majlis. This proposal has been raised. It is not a new proposal; it has been raised in previous terms as well. For instance, Ms. Maryam Behroozi, the Secretary-General of the Zainab Society, who passed away some time ago, had proposed a similar plan before the elections of the ninth Majlis, which was under review but did not reach fruition. Of course, it is still unclear what the outcome of this proposal will be. It is still under discussion and review, and whether it will reach the elections in Esfand is uncertain. You mentioned that based on these two proposals being raised, the number of female representatives could potentially be 25 or 28. What has been the highest number of Iranian women's presence in the Islamic Consultative Assembly so far? The record for women's presence in the Majlis was during the fifth term, which had 14 female representatives. Interestingly, the Women's Commission of the Majlis was also formed at that time. Ms. Amirshahi, given all the discussions that have arisen so far, how likely is it that gender quotas for women's presence will actually happen and be approved by the Majlis? Gender quotas with this name and title do not seem likely to come to fruition. This is something that the 36-year history of the Islamic Republic has shown, which is not very supportive of women having independent and gender-based activities. There is a clear opposition to the concept of gender equality in Iran. For instance, Ayatollah Khamenei explicitly stated in a meeting with elite women that gender equality and addressing women's employment is a completely wrong perspective and that separating the issue of women from the issue of family is a matter that we have fundamentally misjudged. Ms. Amirshahi, aside from the gender quota proposal you mentioned, what other efforts are being made to increase the presence of Iranian women in the Islamic Consultative Assembly? Generally, during every election season, women's activists engage to secure a share of the electoral lists and increase the number of female representatives in the Majlis, and this period has not been devoid of such activities. For instance, Ms. Molaverdi, the Deputy for Women and Family Affairs of the Presidency, wrote a letter to the head of the Expediency Discernment Council, asking him to consider the increase in the number of female representatives in the Majlis and also in the Islamic councils of cities and villages while reviewing the general policies of the elections. She stated in interviews with news agencies that we are pursuing this matter and will definitely continue this issue. On the other hand, reformist organizations have also actively appeared this time, as they have in the past, and reformist women are seeking to secure a 30% quota from the reformist lists. According to Ms. Rake'i's statements to news agencies, it has been agreed in the Coordination Council of the Reform Front that a 30% quota will be allocated to women on the electoral list. We will have to see which of these will come to fruition and whether these proposals, bills, and suggestions will remain unfulfilled like in all past terms or if this time they will yield results.