Iran’s proposed new health minister, one of three women included in Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s incoming Cabinet, yesterday demanded an increased role for women in national affairs.
“Women must have a greater role in the country’s affairs,” Marzieh Vahid Dastjerdi said in parliament, as members of parliament continued the vetting process of Ahmadinejad’s 21-member ministerial line-up for the third straight day.
The conservative-dominated parliament is to engage in a confidence vote on each candidate today.
If any of the three women Ahmadinejad has proposed get the nod from lawmakers, it would mark the first time in the 30-year history of the Islamic republic that Iran would have a female Cabinet minister.
Dastjerdi, outlining her four-year plan in parliament yesterday, said about half the employees of Iran’s health ministry were women, while there were 1.6 million female students in the country.
“Also when there are women and men working together, miracles take place,” said Dastjerdi, dressed in a black chador.
She promised to put in place an improved health plan with a focus on “health concerns of women.”
“I intend to expand the health insurance coverage and health facilities in villages and areas close to the cities,” she said.
Dastjerdi talked of tackling non-contagious ailments such as diabetes, cancer and heart diseases but “without forgetting contagious diseases such as swine flu.”
Iran has reported one death from swine flu out of about 300 infected people and it has also banned the umrah pilgrimage to Mecca during Ramadan to prevent the spread of the A(H1N1) virus.
Dastjerdi’s candidacy received a boost when former health minister and lawmaker Alireza Marandi defended her nomination.
“She has the credentials and has participated in making proposals on issues related to the health sector. She has been a member of parliament and intends to expand the health plan based on justice,” he said in the chamber.
Despite his support, Dastjerdi and the other two women nominees, along with some other candidates, are expected to face an uphill task in securing the mandate from the conservative members of parliament. Iran’s clerics and lawmakers feel women nominees lack ministerial experience.
Ahmadinejad, who is under fire from his own hardline camp over several political decisions he took since his disputed re-election, is facing mounting opposition to his Cabinet in the parliament.
Over the past two days, several conservative members of parliament have lashed out at his nominees, saying they were inexperienced and “obedient” to him.
The proposed defense minister, Ahmad Vahidi, who was set to speak in parliament later yesterday, has also triggered international controversy.
Argentina has called for Vahidi’s arrest for his alleged role in a 1994 Buenos Aires bombing that killed 85 people. In 2007, Interpol formally distributed an Argentine arrest warrant for Vahidi to its 187 member countries.
Ahmadinejad has retained five existing ministers in the same capacity, while he has reshuffled the portfolios of two others.
Current Defense Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar has been nominated as the next interior minister and Minister of Commerce Masoud Mirkazemi was Ahmadinejad’s pick for the oil ministry of OPEC’s second-largest crude exporter.
However, Mirkazemi is expected to be rejected because of his lack of expertise in the crucial sector, media reports said. He was also nearly impeached during the current term over rising prices of basic commodities.
The vote of confidence comes as Iran is gripped in political turmoil after Ahmadinejad’s re-election triggered massive street protests which left about 30 people dead — opposition claims 69 were killed — and shook the foundations of the Islamic regime.
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