Meet Mrs. Ahmedinejad and Co.
The rise of vociferous female conservatives in Iran.
One of the most notable is Fatemeh Rajabi, the journalist wife of Gholam Hossein Elham, a government spokesman and one of Ahmadinejad’s most trusted confidants. Rajabi sometimes appears in the press more often than her husband. Furthermore, she has openly attacked Rafsanjani’s allies for being corrupt and Ayatollah Khatami for being too liberal and friendly toward the West. She even called for the defrocking of Khatami. Although many male members of Iran’s political elite have done the same, Rajabi is the first female critic in Iran’s post-revolution history to go so far in her criticism of senior politicians. This has earned her several nicknames. One is “Fatti Arreh,” meaning “Fatemeh the hacksaw.” The other is “Shamsi Pahlevoon,” a nickname given to physically rough women in Iran.
Despite the fact that Ahmadinejad’s wife has been camera shy until recently, she too has had a strong influence on her husband. Although the president of Iran is no feminist, compared to other conservatives in Iran he has championed more rights for women. One of them was his public call to allow women to attend soccer matches as spectators. Soon after, he was subjected to fierce criticism from senior clergy from the city of Qom because they saw it as un-Islamic. Ahmadinejad did not back down until he was forced to by Iran’s supreme leader. Furthermore, during his tenure as mayor of Tehran, Ahmadinejad opened many leisure areas for women, including parks and libraries. Although segregation of men and women is frowned upon in the West and by many Iranians, it must be noted that some women in Iran welcome segregation in buses and parks due to problems such as unwanted physical contact and approach by strangers. Right-wing movements have also increased their recruitment of women for their campaigning and demonstrations. A great number of Baseej (people’s militia) who demonstrated against Israel and Egypt were women.
As the Iranian presidential elections near, we are going to hear more from the female members of Iran’s political arena. Their appearance is not solely for the betterment of human kind. Jealousy and self-interest are also at play. It is believed that one of the reasons why Ahmadinejad’s wife wrote to Suzanne Mubarak is because she did not want to be outdone by Zohre Sadeghi, the wife of Ayatollah Khatami (Ahmadinejad’s chief rival), who two days earlier had written a similar letter to the wife of the emir of Qatar.
Conservative clergy may wish to keep Iran’s women quiet and at home. However, it looks like the conservative non-clergy politicians who should back them are actually turning against them.
Sixty percent of Iran’s university graduates are women. It’s only a matter of time before they can slowly claim their deserved place in the government and society of their country.
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Meir Javedanfar is the co-author with Yossi Melman of The Nuclear Sphinx of Tehran: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the State of Iran. He runs Middle East Economic and Political Analysis (MEEPAS).
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19 Comments
1. Marie Claude:yeah, since the mullahcraty took the power, the Iran speciality is “emotional policy” !!!!
Now, where are the true warriors there ??? There must be some left DNA of them though !!!!
Out, the pulcinellas !!!
Jan 28, 2009 - 4:17 am 2. Laura:If only the women in oppressed Islamic countries got together to protest their own enslavement by their own people, instead of vilifying Israel, whose women are freer than any other in the Middle East. They could break their own chains and free their sex. Where are the radical Western feminists in all this? Wait, I know….. protesting in the streets against Israel.
Jan 28, 2009 - 7:25 am 3. Meir Javedanfar:For the majority of Iranian women, the economic struggle at home is the priority. This is one opportunity which may enable them to improve their position even further, due to the high level of education which they have.
Jan 28, 2009 - 10:34 am 4. DoubleTapper:Here in Israel, our women have the power. From our Female Prime Minister Golda Meir to my personal favorite.
Isn’t she special??
She dwarfs me!
DoubleTapper
Jan 28, 2009 - 12:54 pm 5. KansasGirl:DoubleTapper@gmail.com
DoubleTapper, blogging on
Guns Politics Defense from Israel
Oh no, the feminization of Iran? Who’d thunk!
Jan 28, 2009 - 1:12 pm 6. Leatherneck:Wow, she really looks hot in that Burka! I bet she cleans house real good too.
Jan 28, 2009 - 1:51 pm 7. Marc Malone:They can only do this if their hubbies let them. Tempest in a teapot.
Jan 28, 2009 - 1:56 pm 8. mohammed:Haha keep deluding yourselves. All Hillary could manage are some imaginary cracks in the glass ceiling. The Iranian parliament has more women in it in proportion than the American congress, likewise the Palestinian authority parliament. And some majority Muslim countries have produced women leaders. Pakistan elected a female prime minister once, though she spoiled the show by becoming an American lackey. Indonesia largest Muslim nation has elected a female president before, Bangladesh almost 100% Muslim country has had 2 women prime ministers and just returned one to power. Your facts are wrong, America has not even got a female vice president yet. Next century may be.
Jan 28, 2009 - 2:30 pm 9. Leatherneck:And guess what the Muslim countries with the fewest rights to women like Saudi Arabia and Kuwait have governments that are only in power because of American support, the day they are toppled this will all end. They are the so called allies. Your logic is upside down people.
Wow, with such great things going on inside the Ummah, I wonder why the moon god worshipers continue to want to come to Europe, and the United States.
Perhaps, it is the free housing, and food stamps.
Jan 28, 2009 - 3:15 pm 10. kelly k:“The Iranian parliament has more women in it…” Now, if only they could do something about those stonings….
Yep, our logic is upside down.
Jan 28, 2009 - 3:33 pm 11. Delia:The Burka makes this all moot anyway. Women with freedom? HA! In fact, DOUBLE HA evennnnnnnnnn!
I mean… Come the frick ON! Seriously! Muslim men are notorious for treating women like caca whether in the USA or in their own homelands.
Atlas Shrugs as shite loads of examples:
http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/
Seriously, STFU Muslim extremists and your ilk. You are a pox on the world and you know damned well you’d love to send this whole world back into the dark ages under your guiding, head lopping, hand.
EFF YOU!
Jan 28, 2009 - 6:02 pm 12. WestGuard:“Wife” in the islamic world really means owning a dehumanized and ever subserviant “house maid / sex slave”
Jan 28, 2009 - 10:41 pm 13. ella:But at least Mrs Ahmadinejad has a rich, politically powerful master. Most burka wearing “pets” have it far worse.
I think that Iranian women at universities are less conservative then Iranian women who did not got university education, but of course, many educated women are supporting conservative causes/government because by doing so they can get a good job which would make them less dependent on their family or their husband. And some, not many, but some, are truly conservative.
I would not agree that Ahmadinejad champions rights of women. Ahmadinejad wanted more votes and more support for his policies – roughly half of the Iranian voting population are women, so it is natural that he tried to make some small changes in return for votes and support.
As for soccer – Soccer is no. 1 game in Iran, all Iranians, men and women, watch soccer matches and women many times protested against not being allowed to be a spectators during soccer matches. Ahmadinejad himself was a soccer player so I assume that he has different view on that then mullahs of Iran.
@mohammed
No it does not. 8th majlis have 8 women on 290 representatives. You are also forgetting that no woman could be a leader of IRI, as the leader, presently Khamenei, should be a cleric as well as be a direct descendant of Muhammad family.
I will not discuss Gaza or West Bank because with the introduction of hudud punishments into Gaza legislature women situations will not be that much different from the situation under original Taliban in Afghanistan.
As for Pakistan or Bangladesh – Pakistani women situations are different from place to place and although in cities women situation are not that bad in countryside women situation is – hmm – talibanized. Which is no surprise, taliban sprang up in Pakistan.
As for Bangladesh – situation there is worsening with every day..
Oh, and stop telling us that the governments of KSA or Kuwait are in power only because of evil americans. Where are the protesting people of KSA, Qatar or emirates? If the people of KSA decide to change the government they would change it US or no US. At the moment they might dislike many things but they are rich compared to others and they do not want to change it.
Majority of loud protesters sit on their behind in Londonistan, France, USA or Qatar and complain from the distance.
@Delia & Co.,
Iranian women do not wear burka. The Afghani women and Pakistani women wear burka.
Jan 28, 2009 - 11:44 pm 14. Delia:Women in Iran are one of the best educated in the ME, and there are more women in the universities then men
ella,
Certainly websites such as this would argue otherwise regarding ‘freedoms’ for Iranian women:
http://www.wfafi.org/
Jan 29, 2009 - 7:53 pm 15. mohammed:13. ella:
You ignored the main point, America has not managed a woman vice president yet all these ‘backward’ and uncivilized Muslim countries managed it, may be a fatwa helped. Rubbish, your math doesn’t add up.
Jan 30, 2009 - 11:46 am 16. tanstaafl:Whatever Mrs. A’jad is saying, I’m sure it’s with her husband’s permission. I find it hard to read positive comments on Ahmadinejhad (”fostering chaos to lay the groundwork for the return of the Mahdi”), especially given rather violent suppression of student unrest & other reporting that manages to get out of Iran.
I wonder what A’jad & friends thinks of this women’s movement in Iran, doing the legwork to inform women of the backwardness of shari’a…
1 Million Signatures Campaign for Women’s Rights in Iran
Feb 1, 2009 - 10:28 am 17. Concerned:Wow. Is that DoubleTapper guy for real?
He looks like an action figure.
And that IDF Giant Woman is incredible.
http://doubletapper.blogspot.com
Feb 3, 2009 - 4:33 am 18. ella:Delia
I am not saying that women in Iran are free, although they are more free than women in Saudi Arabia (but that’s not saying much). I am saying that they are one of the best educated in the ME and that there are more women at Iranian Universities then men.
Don’t read into my post more than I wrote.
Mohammed
Getting the showcase woman President or PM means nothing if overall situation of women is pretty bad and if situation of women during presidency of that woman did not improved.
Feb 3, 2009 - 5:46 pm 19. ella:Unfortunately neither situation of women is good nor situation of women under any woman-president improved.
And tell me, oh knowlegeable one, how much women is in the majlis?
ups, sorry, should be: “how many women are in the majlis”
Feb 3, 2009 - 5:48 pm