Iranian women are not only present, but in demand, in national politics. And it’s not for what they’re wearing or who their husbands are.
According to the head of Iran’s election committee, 42 out of Iran’s 475 official presidential candidates are women. Though it’s most likely a long shot, Iran’s next president could be a woman.
Add this to the fact that Iranian women have been actively involved in national politics for decades, and it makes an article in The Guardian by Robert Tait all the more ridiculous. Tait profiles Dr. Zahra Rahnavard, the wife of one of Iran’s political candidates, because she is traveling with him on his campaign route.
In “The Guardian’s First Lady paux pas”, Faith Barrow-Waheed points out that his profile is little more than a reduction of a woman to her chador. Tait focuses on her appearance and clothing, relegating her many political and professional accomplishments to small mentions. Barrow-Waheed also takes issue with Tait’s assumption that Rahnavard’s campaigning with her husband is “transformative” for Iranian women in politics:
Why is being the wife of a political candidate transformative for women in politics? Why is her appearance with her husband transformative? No one would say that a wife of a candidate in a Western country is transformative for women in politics. It wouldn’t matter if she was in the public eye or not.
Sounds like Tait doesn’t know much about Iranian politics. Although a minority, several women serve in political posts of every level, and often act as advisors. Dr. Rahnavard herself was an advisor to Iran’s former president Mohamad Khatami. And another Iranian presidential candidate has taken on Leila Boroujerdi, the granddaughter of Ayatollah Khomeini, as an advisor for his campaign. He also states that he’ll “appoint a woman as [his] foreign minister to challenge [US Secretary of State] Hillary Clinton.”
Iranian women are not only present, but in demand, in national politics. And it’s not for what they’re wearing or who their husbands are.
Fatemeh Fakhraie is Associate Editor of Altmuslimah
