Parvaneh Salahshouri in the conference of elected moderates and reformists of Iran, March 2016. Wikicommons/ Hamed Malekpour. Some rights reserved.
Seventeen women are going to be elected to office as a result of the recent parliamentary election in Iran. While this marginal increase in women’s representation will not change the overwhelmingly masculine character of the Iranian Parliament, it is still fair to wonder whether these newly elected women deputies and reformists will have an impact. Will they be able to usher in laws that advance gender equality?
The Supreme Leader’s position on women’s rights is not clear. Ayatollah Khamenei encouraged women to take part in this year’s election by stating that, "There is no need for women to take permission from their husbands to take part in the elections." But will he issue similar statements in support of amendments to the discriminatory laws currently in place? His voice is crucial if the laws that require women to ask their husbands’ permission before taking jobs, obtaining passports and traveling outside the country are ever to be taken off the books. These are laws that most women can hardly fathom living under.
