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PRESS RELEASE (IV) |
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ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN LATEST DEVELOPMENTS IN WOMEN’S RIGHTS IN IRAN |
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In the name of God 1. General managers of 89 journals are women. In the second congress of “Women and the Press” held in Mashad on 30 May 2000, the adviser to the Culture and Islamic Guidance minister said: “ 89 out of 964 journals published in Iran are run by women and also the license holders of 71 journals are women”. Mrs. Khadjenoori added that lady authors and translators have published 2081 books, most of which concentrate on subjects of children and teenagers. She pointed out that so far 31 books written by women have been short-listed for the Book of the Year Award. 300 publishers and 22 printing and lithography company managers are from the women active in the cultural affairs of the country. The adviser to the Culture and Islamic Guidance minister said that women are actively engaged in 147 cultural centres, out of which 77 are located in Tehran and the rest are in other cities. In this congress the chairwoman of the Women Writers Society of Mashad said: “This Society was established in winter 1999 with the aim of promoting activities in the fields of literature, script writing, research, fiction writing, journalism and news reporting. At present the Society has 60 permanent members who, with the support of the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance in Khorasan, hold sessions twice a month. 2. Women Journalists Society of Kermanshah started its activities. Thanks to the support of the Women’s Commission of Kermanshah province and in the presence of a group of experts and journalists, the first Society of Women Journalists of Kermanshah province was launched. Tarigheh Haghshenas, the Secretary to the Women’s Commission of the province, stated: “The aim of establishing the Society of Women Journalists was to pave the way for women’s participation in different fields and to support bright talents. 3. Election of a lady Member of Parliament to the presiding committee of Majles (Parliament). Mrs. Jelodar-zadeh has been elected as a member of the presiding committee of the sixth Majles. Since the victory of the Islamic Revolution, this is the first time that a woman has been elected to this post. In their second open session, people’s representatives in Majles elected six temporary members to the presiding committee. These members have been elected from amongst 26 candidates with the highest votes, as temporary secretaries of Majles. Mrs. Soheila Jelodar-zadeh is a textile engineering graduate, 41 years old and a member of the Islamic Labour Party. 4. Participation in the special meeting of the United Nations General Assembly called “Women 2000: Gender Equality, Development and Peace for the Twenty-First Century”. Mrs. Zahra Shojaee, adviser to the President and the Head of the Centre for Promoting Women’s Participation, together with a delegation will take part in a special meeting of the General Assembly (Pekin + 5) in New York, 5–9 June 2000. High-ranking government officials, as well as representatives from United Nation expert agencies, non-governmental organizations, and the media will take part in these sessions. The participating groups comprise Group 77 and China, European Union, Australia, Canada, Japan, Switzerland, United States of America, Iceland, Liechtenstein, New Zealand, and also some independent delegations (e.g., from the Vatican, Hong Kong, Mexico, Russia, and Turkey).
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