https://www.clarionproject.org/news/woman-leader-iranian-female-militia-gender-equality-illegal
Woman Leader of Iranian Female Militia: Gender Equality Illegal The head of the women's Basij also opposes efforts to elect female parliamentarians as education to curb domestic violence. Sun, December 11, 2016 Members of the female corps of the Basij volunteer militia (Photo: © CHAVOSH HOMAVANDI/AFP/Getty Images) The woman who leads the female volunteers for the Iranian regime’s volunteer militia has spoken out against gender equality and efforts to increase the number of women in the parliament. Minou Aslani, head of the Women’s Basij organization, also opposes activism to reign in domestic violence. This agenda, Aslani asserts, is against Iranian society and traditional family values. “These activities are in fact against our laws and the judiciary should take action,” said Aslani, as quoted by the semi-official Mehr news agency. Participation by more women in the parliament, she added, will “distort” the character of Iranian women. “This is a path that has resulted in the solitude of women in the West,” she said. “Unfortunately some people in this country are following the outdated Western example — it is against human nature.” Aslani also criticized Iranian Vice-President for Women’s affairs Shahindokht Molaverdi, who sent out a tweet in support of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women on November 25. “What has the vice presidency for women’s affairs done for virtue in society?” Aslani asked. In August, Amnesty International announced that Iran had intensified their repression of women’s rights activists during the first half of 2016 by threatening, interrogating and imprisoning women connected to collective initiatives relating to women’s rights. In just one instance, women activists involved a campaign to elect women to the parliament have been detained and harshly interrogated and bombarded with accusations of espionage and collusion with “foreign-based currents seeking the overthrow of the Islamic Republic system.”
