Women’s Central Position in Iran’s Parliament

A fascinating photo of all Iranian MPs, recently posted on the Telegram channel of the Iranian Parliament’s news agency, seeks to convey a number of implicit messages, such as the central role played by women in the Majlis’ current term, as it shows a purposeful and intelligent arrangement of the portraits of the parliamentarians.

According to a report by IFP, the photo shows the portraits of all MPs currently serving in the Iranian Parliament arranged in 17 columns and 17 rows. Interestingly, 17 women have won the Iranian Parliament’s seats in the present term, a figure equal to the number of the portraits in each column and row and the divisor of the total number.

In addition, female MPs’ row is positioned almost at the centre of the picture, from top to bottom, which can be perceived as an effort to show the central role they play in the Iranian Parliament.

Although the number of female MPs in the 10th term of the Parliament is still quite low, in proportion to that of male lawmakers, one shall hardly fail to notice their significant role.

The 10^th Parliament, which is responsible to oversee the performance of the government, has the highest number of women in its line-up compared to its former terms after the victory of the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Although these female parliamentarians mostly have reformist inclinations, conservative members of the Parliament, regardless of the gender-related issues, still maintain a decisive role in the Majlis despite the increased number of MPs from the other party in the present term compared to previous stints. The contest for the parliamentary seats in Iran was last held in late February 2016, and a run-off election in May will show if more women can enter the Parliament.