TEHRAN- Vice President for Women’s and Family Affairs Shahindokht Molaverdi says all political factions have realized that it is humiliating for the country that female MPs occupy less than three percent of the seats in the parliament. 

Molaverdi said that a committee named “Political-Social Management and Collaboration” has been established to promote and educate women who want to enter political campaigns, the Iran newspaper reported on Thursday.  

The committee’s main goal, according to Molaverdi, is to support women who are planning to run for the future parliamentary elections, adding that it has not yet been decided when the committee may kickstart.

She said some parties have already begun holding some workshops for women to prepare them for the elections, noting that such courses can help women to play a more active role in the upcoming elections.

However, even if there were “1000 female MPs” in the parliament, it would be futile as long as their approaches would not interest women’s population, she emphasized. 

She also criticized the female MPs who have been in the parliament in the past, saying they could not take advantage of the opportunity that Majlis had offered them  and could not meet women’s needs whatsoever. 

Molaverdi insisted that if more women who believe in females’ legal and religious rights find their way into parliament, women’s needs could be addressed in a much better way and more laws in support of children and women will be passed accordingly.

She also pointed to the differences between the department under her leadership with women’s faction in the parliament and said the differences are mostly a result of misunderstanding.

“It does not seem that there is any main difference, but I have mentioned several times that we can stand beside each other and move forward together when there is a common goal,” Molaverdi added.

She also said that 25 to 35 percents of the seats in Kurdistan’s parliament have been reserved for women and 27 percent in Afghanistan.

Molaverdi indicated that similar system [reserving some portion of the seats for women] can be internalized in the legal structure of Iran as well.
PT/P