It has been reported that women in Iran will no longer be barred from running for president, overturning a position that has been in place for over 40 years. Asia Times has reported that Abbas Ali Kadkhodaei, a spokesperson for Iran's Guardian Council, said that women will not be barred for running in the 2021 presidential election.
The rules have been in place since the Islamic revolution of 1979 when Ayatollah Khomeini came to power and imposed a strict Islamic doctrine across the whole of Iranian society. Although no codified law states women can't run for office, the general principles of the state have thus far been interpreted to deny them that opportunity. In 2001 47 women did attempt to run for president but all were barred from doing so by the courts.
Iranian women are not currently barred from holding other political offices, and many of them do, and it is only currently the position of President that they are currently excluded from.
Roja Fazaeli, a women's studies expert and professor at Trinity College in Ireland, said of the reported change of policy:
"Of course, women should be eligible to run in presidential elections in Iran and should have equal access to leadership positions on par with their male peers."
Iran has come under considerable criticism through the years over the treatment of women within Iranian society. Currently, women, despite making up over 50% of university graduates, only make up 17% of the workforce, and the Global Gender Gap Report stated in 2020 that the gap between opportunity for men and women in Iran was the sixth worst in the entire world.
Women are also required in Iran to wear a headscarf when in public. Protests against this practice became widespread in 2017 when women filmed themselves going into the streets and removing their headscarves, bringing huge attention to their cause both within Iran and internationally. Headscarves were not compulsory in Iran prior to the 1979 revolution.
In 2019 activist Saba Kord Afshari was jailed for 24 years for taking part in the headscarf protests. She faced additional charges of "spreading corruption and prostitution" as well as "spreading propaganda against the state" and "assembly and collusion". Amnesty International and other human rights groups have strongly criticised her imprisonment and stated that Iran should impose laws that guarantee the rights of women and girls.
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