Women Key to Iranian Elections

Many stories this week regarding the quest to target female voters' support in this week-end's elections in Iran.

Middle East Online:

"... while the young women of Iran made their voices heard -- believing, perhaps for the first time, that at least part of their destiny is in their own hands"

Al Jazeera:

"In an unprecedented move, Mousavi, the leading reformist contender, introduced his wife Zahra Rahnavard onto the campaign platform alongside him. Rahnavard is an accomplished intellectual in her own right - a sculptor, author and chancellor of Tehran’s liberal arts-strong Al-Zahra University. She will also be Iran's first First Lady – in the public sense of the term – if her husband is elected. Already, she is being touted as a national heroine, her face gazing out alongside Mousavi's on posters and her name being chanted at rallies and demonstrations."

BBC News:

"President Ahmadinejad often speaks of women as the heart of this society. He talks of empowering them and makes much of his plan to provide insurance for housewives and share Iran's oil wealth with poorer families. But Mr Mousavi has - for Iran - an unusual political asset; his wife, Zhara Rahnavard.

She is Iran's first top-ranking female university professor and like her husband is a respected painter. Their most daring move as a couple has caused a stir - they hold hands as they campaign together.

All four candidates are making promises to women. It makes political sense. Women make up about half the electorate. They were a key part of a groundswell that brought the reformist President Mohammad Khatami to power in 1997 and saw him re-elected in 2001. "