President Ebrahim Raeisi’s wife, Jamileh Alamolhoda, says Iranian women haven’t had to fight for their rights as they already enjoy them, arguing that the feminist movement from other parts of the world has not found its way in Iran due to the violence it causes.
“Women in Iran prefer tranquility rather than being exposed to violence through the feminist approach. That is the striking difference between the two elements,” Alamolhoda said in an interview with Newsweek while in New York to accompany her husband for the 78th session of the UN General Assembly.
Asking about Women’s condition in Iran and claims that they are not free, she said Western countries do not know much about Iran and “regard women with a Western lens.”
She further pointed to the teachings of the Holy Qur’an regarding the relationship between men and women, saying their relationship is “interconnected.”
“Men have to support women and, in return, women offer calm and tranquility for men,” she added.
“What the West is trying to say about women in Iran is very much a politicized matter.”
Alamolhoda also spoke about women’s condition in the West, saying most of them “feel lonely” because they are “less supported by their family and their marriage as well.”
“In Iran, women have very close family relations. Cousins, all members of the family, they are very much interconnected. The relationships between the family members are not so fragile, as opposed to here in the West, where it is very much fragile and people are very busy with what they have to do to live their life, to survive.”
“If you look at the culture in Iran, the depth of the civilization, it is quite different than what is in the West. And what we hope is that we could digest all the cultures so that we can have a common understanding and we can unite in the face of all the assaults and the attacks coming from the West.”
Prior to her husband taking office in August 2021, Alamolhoda obtained her doctorate in the philosophy of education from Tarbiat Modares University.
She went on to serve in a number of academic positions before founding the Institute of Fundamental Studies of Science and Technology at Shahid Beheshti University in 2013.
In 2020, she was appointed secretary of the Council for the Transformation and Renovation of the Educational System by the powerful Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution.
