Provincial DPRD, and Regency/Municipal DPRD,
for each electoral district, giving consideration to
representation of women of at least 30 percent.”
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SusìDwì HarìjantìThe Islamic Republic of Iran and
Afghanistaniran
The constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran
emerged from the Islamization of the revolution of
1979, in which Iranian women of various social
strata took part, as did Iranian men. At that time
there was already a constitution formally in force,
which had come out of the revolution of 1906–7
(Ra™ìmì1978), and which was much less bound to
Islamic provisions. The new constitution acquired
its legitimacy in a referendum that took place in
1980, where the majority of women, like the
majority of men, voted for it. It outlines an Islamic
state, in which “all penal, financial, economic,
administrative, cultural, military, political, and other
laws and regulations must be based on Islamic cri-
teria” (Art. 4). In actual legislations these criteria
are determined by the Guardian Council, consisting
of twelve jurists, of whom six are to be clergymen
(fuqahà). The council has, among other powers,
the right to ensure that no legislative proposal,
approved by the parliament, runs counter to the
principles of the Shì≠ìSharì≠a. Binding legislations
to Sharì≠a is an obligation that, to begin with, dis-
the islamic republic of iran and afghanistan 81criminates against women in their private and
social life.
The position of women as described in the con-
stitution of the Islamic Republic may be summa-
rized as follows:- The “decisive role of women,” as part of the
faithful, in the revolution is recognized by acknowl-
edging that they were “actively and massively pres-
ent in a most conspicuous manner at all [its] stages”
(the Preamble). - It is declared as “natural” that women, be-
cause of the “greater oppression” they suffered
under the old regime, “should benefit from a par-
ticularly large augmentation of their rights.” The
oppression this statement refers to lies in “women
being regarded as an object or instrument in the
service of promoting consumerism and exploita-
tion” (the Preamble). - Art. 3, note 14, obliges the state to secure “the
multifarious rights of all citizens, both women and
men.” But Art. 20 makes it clear that the relevant
steps have to be taken “in conformity with Islamic
criteria.” This stipulation is repeated in Art. 21,
where the state is bound to “ensure the right of
women” in all “material and intellectual” respects
and to “create an environment favorable for the
growth of women’s personality.” The concrete
measures that are to be implemented according to
this article are for the purpose of “protecting moth-
ers, particularly during pregnancy and child-rear-
ing,” “establishing competent courts to protect and
preserve the family,” “providing special insurance
for widows, aged women, and women without sup-
port,” and “awarding of guardianship of children
to worthy women, in order to protect the interest of
the children, in the absence of a legal guardian.”
The last clause means that a mother gets the right
of guardianship of her children only when the
father and his male ancestors are not alive.
The constitution of the Islamic Republic is not
explicit about women’s suffrage, which most
prominent Islamic fuqahàopposed before the 1979
revolution. The reason why election laws have con-
ceded women this right after the revolution should
be seen in light of the increase in women’s social
and political power during and after the revolution,
a fact that cannot be ignored any more.
afghanistan
The turbulent twentieth-century history of Af-
ghanistan has resulted in at least five constitutions
since 1923. However, all of them declare Islam as
the state religion and stipulate in different formula-
tions that in Afghanistan no law shall run counter