Reasons for Women's Enthusiasm for Candidacy in Parliamentary Elections

Are you one of the more than 1,400 women who have registered as candidates for the Islamic Consultative Assembly elections? Or are you one of the women who will participate in the elections and vote for your female or male representatives to the Iranian legislature? Regardless of which group you belong to, join me in this week's program of Another Voice. Days have passed since the end of the registration period for the Islamic Consultative Assembly elections, and now only statistics on the number of registrants have been released. Although the names of a limited number of candidates seen at registration centers have been published, no names are confirmed until the official announcement of the Guardian Council's qualification results. Farnoosh Amirshahi, a former parliament reporter in Iran, is our guest this week. Ms. Amirshahi, how many Iranian women have registered as candidates for this round of the Islamic Consultative Assembly elections? Farnoosh Amirshahi: "According to what the Ministry of Interior has announced, in this round, 12 percent of the registrants, which is about more than 1,400 people, were female candidates." How was participation in the provinces? Can we observe significant participation in the provinces of Iran? "In proportion to the total participation of candidates for parliament in this round, it has been considered a record; we can say that the number of participating women has also increased accordingly, both in Tehran and in the provinces of Iran. Of course, Tehran had the highest statistics with 538 female candidates. Besides that, in Khorasan Razavi, 108 women registered. In Isfahan, there were 119, and in provinces like East Azerbaijan, 64, West Azerbaijan, 38, and in places like Markazi province, 40. Overall, these statistics are significant, and almost in most provinces, there were women who went to the governorates and election headquarters to register their names for parliamentary representation." You mentioned that registration for the Islamic Consultative Assembly elections has set a new record this time. Can we consider the presence of women and their candidacy in these elections as a record for women? "Although the presence of women has been remarkable, it cannot be said that this is a record. Because in the fifth parliament, out of 8,172 candidates for parliamentary representation, 18 percent of the registrants were women. However, this time, with 12,123 people registered for candidacy, 12 percent of the registrants were women. It seems that the fifth parliament still holds the record." Nevertheless, more than 1,400 women have registered for this election. In your opinion, what reasons can we consider for this enthusiasm among women to participate in the elections? Factors such as increased political participation of women or higher levels of education? Can we consider such issues effective? "Certainly, this is the case. These issues are involved, but other factors have also been influential. One of these factors is the relative opening of the political space and the return of a hopeful atmosphere that has returned to political and social circles after the 2013 elections. Considering the end of the record period and the decade-long restrictions after 2013, the space has opened up a bit, and overall political and social participation has increased in all aspects. Besides this, various campaigns have also emerged, such as the campaign for changing the civil face of parliament or proposals like voting for women by women. These should not be overlooked. In any case, especially since they have become active in the provinces, identifying candidates and encouraging them has been effective. However, apart from all this, it was not only women who had increased participation. We must consider that men also participated more compared to previous elections, and this is a general atmosphere. It cannot be said that only women created such a space." Ms. Amirshahi, in one of the reports I saw today, it was mentioned that there are 45 applicants for each parliamentary seat. In your opinion, what is the role and impact of the Guardian Council in this regard, and how likely is it that some women may be disqualified solely because they are women? "Certainly, this number of 45 will decrease after the announcement of the qualification results by the Guardian Council. However, it does not seem very correct that a representative would be disqualified solely because of being a woman. At least, such a thing has not existed in the 36-year history since the revolution. But this is regarding the Islamic Consultative Assembly. The discussion about the Assembly of Experts is different. The conditions for candidacy in the Assembly of Experts are different. Given that there were women this time who saw themselves as eligible for membership in the Assembly and registered as candidates, we must see what historic decision the Guardian Council will make in this area. *** You may have heard in the news that Homa Nateq, a writer, researcher, professor at the Sorbonne University, and historian of the Qajar and Constitutional periods, passed away on January 1, 2016, in Paris. Homa Nateq is remembered as one of the few women specialists in the historical period of the 19th and early 20th centuries in Iran, who viewed history through the lens of Iran-West relations. Faraj Sarkuhi, a writer and cultural expert, says about Homa Nateq's character: "With the loss of Homa Nateq, we lost one of our very reputable historians, who belonged to what she called the new wave of analytical historiography. She was someone who connected academia with enlightenment. She was someone who, alongside academic activities, was also involved in social and political activities. Homa Nateq was born in 1934 in Urmia. In 1954, she went to Paris with a government scholarship given to talented students and studied there, obtaining her doctorate in history. Her dissertation was published in 1967 in French about Seyyed Jamal al-Din Asadabadi. After returning to Tehran, she was a university professor from 1969 until 1980 in the Faculty of History. She spent a year teaching at Boston University in the United States. After 1980, she went to France. During this period, of course, we know that she was politically active and was involved in the Iranian Writers' Association. From 1984, she worked as a full-time professor at the Institute for Iranian Studies at the Sorbonne University, and with her passing, we lost a part of our culture." Besides her academic activities, Homa Nateq had extensive social and political activities. The most prominent of these activities was during the Islamic Revolution. On March 8, 1979, a nationwide rally of Iranian women was held in protest against the hijab. Homa Nateq, who was among the participants in this rally, read a statement from the National Organization of University Professors, which stated: "We are not against hijab. We are against its imposition." On March 19, 1979, a day after the rally, Kayhan newspaper quoted Simin Daneshvar as saying that she considered the hijab issue secondary and linked its resolution to solving more important issues. On March 21 of the same year, Kayhan newspaper again quoted Homa Nateq as saying that if the monarchy is not restored, it does not matter; we will wear headscarves. Just do not conspire in our name. Faraj Sarkuhi says about this form of Homa Nateq's social-political activities: "Most of those who have academic credibility, great reputable professors do not have a relationship with enlightenment. There is a contradiction between Iranian enlightenment and the academic community. However, Homa Nateq was one of those who connected these two. While being a reputable professor, she was also a significant figure in history and was active in the Iranian Writers' Association, collaborated with people like Gholamhossein Sa'edi in publishing Alifba, or translated books like 'The Face of the Colonizer, The Face of the Colonized' and was politically active. She was one of the founders of the National Women's Union, an organization that can be said to followed the positions of the Majority Fadaian Organization, and where Homa Nateq considered the women's movement secondary, she opposed it and said that efforts should be made to continue the revolution instead of focusing on women's issues, which is also part of her political life. Later, she strongly and candidly criticized this part of her life." After the death of Simin Daneshvar, Homa Nateq told Mansoureh Shojaei, an activist on women's issues, that you should write that I was very wrong to say this. We have betrayed women. You should put us on trial. I beg you to write that I myself ask you to put us on trial. And Mansoureh Shojaei noted in the continuation of the interview that the fair judge initially seeks to put himself on trial. Homa Nateq passed away on January 1, 2016, in Paris.