Election law designates the Guardian Council as the arbitrator of complaints related to the
election process or candidate vetting, which itself is the body responsible for the impugned
decisions.
There are currently no female ministers in the government’s cabinet. No provincial governors are
women. The government recently appointed three women as “county governor” out of 430
positions across the country.3 The administration appointed women to 13 out of 1,058 district
governors, mostly in small provinces across the country. Women currently occupy only 5.8
percent (16 out of 290) of parliamentary seats in the new parliament elected in February 2020.4
Additionally, under Iranian law, women cannot be appointed as judges. This rule is based on an
interpretation of Shari’a according to which judging is done only by men, and women cannot
issue rulings.5 While women can hold the position of ‘legal advisors,’ a role which allows them
to oversee case proceedings or sit on three-person Appeals Court panels, they cannot render final
verdicts, which must be signed by a judge.6 The government may assign a woman an honorary
rank of judge, but in effect these continue to be positions such as "clerk", " and "legal advisor".
No woman is a judge in the Iranian courts, regardless of title. According to statements issued by
Alireza Amini, Deputy of Human Resources of the Judiciary, there are about 1,000 women
‘judges’ in the Iranian judiciary, who hold positions in family courts, appeals courts and the
Supreme Court. In 2019 the Government reported “more than 970 female judges” working in the
judiciary. These ‘judge’ positions are advisory and have no decision-making power.7 8
Although the Islamic Republic of Iran reported that the presence of women in decision-making
positions and political participations increased although it remains particularly low in
comparison to other countries.9 According to the UN Women and the Inter-Parliamentary Union,
Iran ranks 181 out of the 190 reviewed countries for women in parliament and 166 for women in
ministerial positions.10
B. The Islamic Republic of Iran should also organize special training programs for
women and regular awareness campaigns in this regard
3
Executive rankings at the provincial level: 1) Governor, 2) County Governor, 3) District Governor, 4) Village President.
See more: All Human Rights for All in Iran, Association for Human Rights in Kurdistan – Geneva (KMMK-G) Association for
the Human Rights Of The Azerbaijani People In Iran (AHRAZ), Iran Human Rights Documentation Center (IHRDC), OutRight
International, Siamak Pourzand Foundation, Small Media, Impact Iran, Submission to the Human Rights Committee, 129th
session, 2020, https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/Treaties/CCPR/Shared%20Documents/IRN/INT_CCPR_NGO_IRN_42317_E.pdf
5
The law of conditions for the election of judges of the judiciary: https://rc.majlis.ir/fa/law/show/90547
6
The law of conditions for the election of judges of the judiciary: https://rc.majlis.ir/fa/law/show/90547
7
See, < http://www.iribnews.ir/009NnJ > and < https://www.yjc.ir/00QghG >
8
Women and the Family in the Statistics Mirror - President's Office
9
National Report, Islamic Republic of Iran, UPR 2019, https://undocs.org/A/HRC/WG.6/34/IRN/1
10
UN Women, https://www.unwomen.org/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/library/publications/2021/women-inpolitics-2021-en.pdf?la=en&vs=1305
4
2