Women And Iran’s Presidential Election

It is wonderful to see Iranian women express their opinions about politics and participate actively in the campaign for the next President of Iran in the up-coming election that is scheduled for 12 June. Although there is no female candidate running for this election, women of all ages, particularly, young male and female students are speaking out publicly in support of one candidate or the other among the all three male candidates who challenge President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who himself also has quite a number of black-veiled female supporters. I am following closely this campaign and the candidacy of Mir Hossein Mousavi, President of Iranian Academy of Art and former Prime Minister because he has openly supports women’s right. His wife, Zahra Rahnavard, former Chancellor of Azahra University and political advisor to former Iranian President Mohammad Khatami, speaks publicly on women’s issues and campaign along side of her husband. Although Article 3 of the Iranian Constitution guarantees free education to all men and women, and ends all forms of “undesirable” discrimination, Mousavi emphasizes the importance of reforming laws that are unfair to women. Islamic Republic of Iran is one of the few countries not party to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), of which 90 percent of the members of the United Nations are party to. If Mousavi wins this election, we can expect to see a big change in how the country is organized and run, especially on the women’s front. Women expects that he would fulfill his campaign promise and put forward a bill to amend laws that are judged to be at odds with the spirit of Iran’s constitution, to correct discriminatory and unjust regulations against women. If Mousavi wins we can also expect to see new legal measures in Iran to help end violence against women. And, who knows, we might even see that Iran joins in and become the number 186th country that is party to CEDAW.