Faezeh Hashemi Rafsanjani, the second daughter of Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, was a representative of the Islamic Consultative Assembly in the fifth term, former editor-in-chief of the women’s newspaper, political activist, and member of the Executives of Construction Party.

In light of the special topic of this issue of the monthly magazine “Khat-e-Solh”, we had a conversation with Faizah Hashemi and asked her about the challenges of women’s presence in parliament.

Mrs. Hashemi, in this conversation, emphasizes that “we cannot say that the women currently in parliament are not defenders of women’s rights or have defended plans and bills that were detrimental to women’s rights, whether they should be in parliament or not.” She says, “The increase in the number of women in parliament, regardless of any thinking, is very good, but of course our effort is naturally to bring more reformist women into parliament.”

He also believes that in regards to the possibility of obtaining votes for both genders, men and women, for women: “Women themselves, due to the lack of female representation in parliament or high-level management positions and not having the opportunity to showcase their performance and abilities to others, are less likely to believe. As a result, I think convincing women would be a harder task compared to convincing men.”

Mrs. Hashemi and other members of the Iranian women’s movement are currently working towards gaining more seats in the upcoming parliament. Do you believe that having more female representatives in parliament will lead to more demands for families or more effective defense of women’s rights?

“Definitely, this is how it is. When the number of female representatives in parliament is low, it also has an impact on the realization of such demands, because parliament is a numbers game and representatives lobby for a specific issue. Therefore, the more their number, the more their presence, the more their votes and efforts towards fulfilling demands, and I believe it is effective.”

Is there enough potential in our society, meaning individuals who can take steps to acquire a seat in representation and can be trusted, exist? Does this mean that essentially, in the shadow of women’s low participation in high-level management positions, are we not facing a void of women who have a chance to enter parliament in competition with men?

See, in terms of quantity, quality, potential, and capabilities, the candidates that exist, especially for Tehran and big cities, are acceptable and I believe there is potential for several times the number of female representatives currently in parliament to enter. Whether they can compete with men in our society is another issue, as our men are often in the media due to their positions, and people know them and have connections with them, while our women do not hold these managerial positions. You can see in the newspapers, websites, and all virtual and non-virtual spaces that governors, presidents, ministers and deputy ministers, directors, university presidents, and ambassadors, 99% of whom are men, have said this or that. In such a competitive environment, it becomes difficult because society usually votes for those they know. As a result, we must work on this issue so that the gap between men and women in terms of society’s recognition is filled, and this is a problem that needs to be solved.

Aside from this issue, the topic of advertising is also an important discussion. Advertising, especially considering the high expenses in our society, requires money and in any case, women in our society have less access to money and financial resources, and therefore they need to make more effort in this area to be able to compete with men.

Currently, there are female representatives in the parliament who themselves are either accused of inactivity and passivity in supporting laws in favor of families or women, or even accused of accompanying and supporting these bills. Can the presence or absence of these women, who have not been defenders of women’s rights, play a positive role in feminizing the parliament and fulfilling the expectations we have from this idea? The question is, in the face of a male candidate who speaks about women’s rights and a female candidate who is indifferent to women’s rights, which vote should be given in the discussion of feminizing the parliament?

It is not right to say that the women currently in parliament are not defenders of women’s rights or have defended bills and proposals that were detrimental to women’s rights. Their performance should be compared to the men in parliament; are the men currently in parliament not engaging in similar actions? How is it acceptable for men to behave this way in parliament, but not for these women?

So, therefore, I am in the first phase of seeking to increase the number of women and open their way to the parliament. The second issue is the intellectual movement. Currently, apart from moderates, we have two distinct intellectual movements; reformists and fundamentalists. Naturally, our preference, as a reformist, is to increase the number of reformist women in parliament so that we can pursue our thoughts and ideas through these women and create conditions for decision-making about them. But I believe that being a woman is also important. I do not accept that women are passive. We currently have 9 female representatives and 281 male representatives. Naturally, we hear more of the voices of men. This does not mean that women were passive and inactive because their numbers were small, they showed themselves less. The increase in the number of women in parliament, regardless of any thinking, is very good, but our effort is naturally to bring more reformist women into parliament.

But in a situation where the choice is between a man who supports women’s rights and an indifferent woman to this issue, I naturally choose men; in fact, the preference is with women who are reformist and have clearer thoughts, but if non-reformist or submissive women are to enter the parliament, it is natural that we want reformist individuals. In fact, we do not have a hundred percent bias towards women on the spectrum that now women must enter the parliament at any cost. But on the other hand, we also have the issue that non-reformist men or men with closed minds go to the parliament, or women go in such a way that in such circumstances, I prefer women to go to the parliament.

Does a specific spectrum, group, or political or civil organization support the idea of feminizing the parliament, or for example, is this view attributed to the reformist spectrum, or do you see this movement as completely spontaneous and arising from collective demands without a specific organization?

In the first place, women started this movement to create the idea that it is necessary for the number of women in parliament to increase. Now many of these women are in reformist parties – and I think this is also happening in conservative groups – who are naturally trying to convince their party to join them; because it is very important for the number of women to increase in the lists that parties or reformist groups provide. We, as women in the reformist women’s assembly and various sections, have set the minimum at thirty percent. That is, our demand from parties is that at least thirty percent of their lists be made up of women. Parties are not resistant to this. It seems to me that a good partnership is forming in the party I am a member of, and also in other parties that I am aware of. But the greatest expectation and success can only come when parties show a positive reaction to this issue.

So now we also have reformist women who are working towards this and parties that have increased the presence of women in their councils and central committees compared to the past, and in fact, women are now more active and I hope this issue will be met with a positive response.

In addition, although I am not active on social media myself, I must mention that women are also active in the virtual space through launching virtual campaigns.

Perhaps gaining the votes of women may not pose a particular challenge for a female representative, but what is your opinion on attracting the votes of men, considering that this presence is at least a gendered presence in itself? How do you convince men to vote for a woman who enters the political arena with the goal of promoting women’s issues, and what benefits do you explain to them?

I don’t think convincing men is that difficult, because women and men are part of the same society. If we look at families, we see that family members are in agreement and vote based on a list they prepare; whether it’s the man of the family, the woman of the family, or the children who are perhaps students or active individuals, they present the list to other family members. In the fifth parliament, a large portion of my voters were men and it wasn’t just women who voted for me; therefore, I don’t see this issue as a big distinction.

On the other hand, if we only have the votes of women, the number will not be small. Mr. Hashemi [Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani] himself said that if only women vote for women, they can form the entire parliament. Based on this, we are trying to convince at least the women who are in families and society, because women, as I said, have a positive impact in their families and society – mostly as mothers. This can be a difficult task because women themselves, due to the small number of women in parliament or high-level positions and not having the opportunity to demonstrate their performance and abilities to others, are less likely to believe. Therefore, I think convincing women will be harder than convincing men.

It means that in your opinion, women do not believe in themselves…

Yes, they do not believe and the effort should be made to create this self-confidence in women.

Considering that the election promises of parliamentary candidates, especially in small cities, are usually centered around local demands, for example, a candidate promises to pave a neighborhood or provide clean drinking water, how can a female candidate in such an environment accept the discussion of women’s rights to voters who have local demands?

The woman who wants to go to parliament is not expected to only be active in regards to women’s rights. Like all representatives, this woman pursues all demands, including women’s rights, even if it is not her top priority. In fact, just as male candidates can make promises, female candidates can and should also make promises and not limit themselves to only talking about women’s rights. A member of parliament has all of these responsibilities and women who have the ability to do such work should enter the field and become candidates.

In general, female representatives should not only discuss gender issues, although these discussions can be a priority for them. For example, if I become a candidate, during my election campaign, my programs will focus on equalizing the rights of men and women and proposing laws that promote this equality and working towards their approval. However, not all programs can include these issues. When I was a representative, wherever I went, I was informed of the demands of the people and I tried to pay attention to all of them. For example, in Lavasan or Islamshahr, we carried out tasks such as gas piping, road construction, and building a stadium.

In any case, when you are a representative, whether you are a woman or a man, you will gain the necessary power and position among the people due to the connections you have with various ministries and offices.

I believe that if women limit themselves to only gender issues and women’s rights, they will definitely fail.

Do you have a decision to run for the upcoming parliamentary elections?

I don’t have a definite decision about this at the moment, but I am thinking about it.

If there is any point that you would like to express at the end, please do so.

There is nothing special, but my request is that you pay more attention to this issue and create this atmosphere and atmosphere; Because the media can be very influential in this regard.

Thank you for the opportunity that you have given us in the Khatt-e-Solh magazine.