First female ambassador since Islamic revolution appointed by Iran
Marzieh Afkham will be Iran's first female ambassador since the 1979 revolution, although her exact posting has not been made public
Iran is set to appoint its first female ambassador since the 1979 Islamic revolution, marking a breakthrough for women in government under the moderate president, Hassan Rouhani.
Marzieh Afkham, who is the country's first foreign ministry spokeswoman, is to head a mission in east Asia, the state news agency reported. It was not clear to which country she will be posted as her appointment is yet to be announced officially.
Afkham will only be the second female ambassador Iran has ever had. Under the late Shah's rule, Mehrangiz Dolatshahi, a three-time member of the parliament famous for her advocacy of family protection law, became an ambassador to Denmark from 1976 until the revolution.
Women in Iran need the permission of their husband or legal custodian, such as their father, to be able to travel abroad. The government is also reluctant to promote women who are single and not married. Afkham was reported to have married last year.
Rouhani said this week that he saw it as his government's "duty" to create equal opportunities for women and spoke against crackdowns by the religious police on women who push the boundaries of the mandatory hijab by showing their hair. But a decision to overturn discriminatory practices is not solely in his hands.
Gissou Nia, deputy director of the international campaign for human rights in Iran (ICHRI), a leading rights group based in New York, on Tuesday hailed Afkham's appointment. "This is certainly welcome news for women in Iran," she said.
"It is a positive step that the appointment has been made, we haven't had a female ambassador since the 1970s but it doesn't alleviate the ongoing concerns about a pending legislation in the Iranian parliament that seeks to restrict women's role in the public sphere."
