Deputy Interior Minister: Women Will Not Become Governors

The political deputy of the Minister of Interior announced that the status of governors will be determined by the end of the current month of Shahrivar. Ismail Jabbarzadeh stated in an interview with ILNA news agency: "The status of remaining or changing the governors of the country will be clarified by the end of this month." In response to the question of whether women will be used in the position of governors, he said: "So far, we have not had any options for women to become governors, and it is likely that we will not have a female governor in this position." The issue of appointing women to high-level managerial positions has been raised for years in the Islamic Republic, especially after Hassan Rouhani was elected president in 2013 by women's advocacy organizations and members of the Islamic Consultative Assembly. Despite Hassan Rouhani's promises, he has not had any female ministers in either his first or the newly started second cabinet. The President of Iran appointed four women as deputy ministers in his first cabinet. Among them, Marzieh Shahdaei was the first woman appointed as the CEO of the National Petrochemical Company and Deputy Minister of Oil after the 1979 Revolution. Elham Aminzadeh served as the legal deputy of the president, Shahindokht Molaverdi as the deputy for women's affairs, and Masoumeh Ebtekar as the vice president and head of the Environmental Protection Organization. Another promise of the president was the establishment of a Ministry for Women. Hassan Rouhani stated: "We have planned to establish a Ministry of Women's Affairs in the government of hope and prudence to restore the violated rights of women." According to Mehrkhaneh, an analytical news site for families and women, Parvin Dadandish, the deputy for women's affairs in Rouhani's electoral headquarters, also mentioned that since strategies and programs need a suitable structure for implementation, Mr. Rouhani proposed the establishment of a Ministry for Women. Despite these promises, no female minister has entered the cabinet. On August 15, Hassan Rouhani stated that he intended to introduce three female ministers in his cabinet and had even specified their positions, but ultimately, this did not happen. Mr. Rouhani, speaking at the beginning of the session reviewing the qualifications of the introduced cabinet members in the Islamic Consultative Assembly, refused to state the reason for not introducing a female minister, saying: "Why it did not happen will remain for later." Meanwhile, the cabinet confirmed the governors of seven provinces in its session on Wednesday, September 13, and the Minister of Interior announced that several other governors would also be changed. Since the establishment of the Islamic Republic in 1979, only in Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's government has Marzieh Vahid Dastjerdi been the only woman who received parliamentary approval for the Ministry of Health.