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Women's Substantive Representation in the Islamic Republic of Iran: The Potential of Women Critical Actors

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 March 2022

Mona Tajali Open the ORCID record for Mona Tajali [Opens in a new window]
Mona Tajali*
Affiliation:
Agnes Scott College
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Abstract

This article analyzes women's substantive representation in Iran to highlight the opportunities and obstacles facing women critical actors when a critical mass of women in politics is absent. Through a case study of progressive women policy makers of the Hassan Rouhani era, this research demonstrates that despite an undemocratic political context dominated by conservative gender mandates, the presence of three interrelated factors contribute to the rise of women critical actors in Iranian formal politics: electoral support and grassroots mobilization around women's rights, willingness of elites to adopt measures toward greater inclusion of women in politics, and occasional openings in Iran's fragmented political context that facilitate the nomination and election of women who are likely to advocate for women's rights. However, the absence of these conditions, as observed during the 2020 parliamentary elections, leads to the marginalization of such critical actors, resulting in limited attention to women's rights in key institutions.

Keywords

Critical actorswomen's substantive representationIslamic Republic of Iranwomen's rights movementspublic opinion
Type
Research Article
Information
Politics & Gender , Volume 19 , Issue 1 , March 2023 , pp. 66 - 96
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Women, Gender, and Politics Research Section of the American Political Science Association

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Footnotes

I am thankful to Hosein Ghazian, Nazanin Shahrokni, Homa Hoodfar, Marlene Caplan, and four anonymous reviewers for all of their helpful guidance and feedback.

References

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