DATE=2/24/2000
TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT
TITLE=IRAN / KADIVAR PROFILE
NUMBER=5-45507
BYLINE=SCOTT BOBB
DATELINE=TEHRAN
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: The landslide victory by reformist candidates
in Iran's parliamentary election is being called a
turning point in Iranian politics. Voters turned out
most of the incumbents and elected a legislature that
will be dominated by people under 40-years of age.
One of those new members is Jamileh Kadivar, who
received the second-highest number of votes in the
competitive Tehran race. As Correspondent Scott Bobb
reports in this profile of Mrs. Kadivar, she is an
activist who comes from a family of prominent
politicians.
TEXT: In the days following her election to
parliament, Jamileh Kadivar declined dozens of
requests for interviews from reporters. Although
elated by her victory in Tehran, Mrs. Kadivar said she
wanted to be with her brother, Mohsen Kadivar, a
reformist who was out of prison for a few days on
family visitation.
Mrs. Kadivar is the wife of the Minister of Islamic
Culture and Guidance, Ataollah Mohajerani, one of the
officials credited for the success of the campaign and
record voter turnout.
Along with the pressures brought on by her family's
involvement in politics, Mrs. Kadivar balances her own
career in politics and journalism with raising a
family. She is the author of six books, a professor,
and recently obtained a doctorate in political
sciences at Tehran University.
Mrs. Kadivar credits the reformists' overwhelming
victory to a strong desire by women and young people
for change. She says laws protecting women's rights
must be updated, in particular in the area of divorce
and child custody.
/// KADIVAR ACT ONE - IN FARSI - WITH ENGLISH
TRANSLATION ///
At the civil levels, we have family issues. We
would like to have our civil laws corrected to
the effect that the rights of women are
considered.
/// END ACT ///
Mrs. Kadivar says another goal is to place more women
at senior decision-making levels of government. She
says the government should appoint women to 10-percent
of senior administrative jobs.
// OPT // Jamileh Kadivar was born in Fasa, a town
near Shiraz in southern Iran. She attended school in
Shiraz until she was 16-years old, when she moved to
Tehran to get married. // END OPT //
Mrs. Kadivar worked for "Kayhan" newspaper, one of
Iran's largest conservative papers, before joining the
pro-reform "Ettela'at" newspaper.
In the mid-1990's, she ventured into politics. She
ran unsuccessfully for a parliamentary seat in Shiraz
in 1996 in a vote that many say was rigged. Last year
she ran for city council of Tehran and was elected
with the third largest number of votes.
At 36-years of age, Tehran's new parliamentary member
is one of the younger of a group of young reformists
who will control nearly two-thirds of the seats in the
new parliament.
/// OPT /// She says the parliament, if it is to be
successful, will have to address the aspirations of
Iran's youth, which accounts for two-thirds of the
total population and which voted overwhelmingly for
change.
/// OPT // KADIVAR ACT TWO - IN FARSI - WITH
ENGLISH TRANSLATION ///
Our new generation has new demands, political
and cultural freedoms. Of course, these issues
are for everybody, but our youth particularly
are demanding this. They want to have freedoms
to have gatherings, and to express themselves.
/// END ACT ///
Many young people in Iran say they are frustrated by
laws that forbid them from socializing in public.
They say they also want access to the cultural
fashions that their generation is enjoying in much of
the rest of the world.
Conservative leaders oppose such liberties, fearing
they will lead to moral decay and undermine Islamic
traditions.
Mrs. Kadivar, like many reformist leaders, knows that
some of the changes will come slowly, so she expects
to focus first on political reform. But she expects
her group to move quickly when the new parliament
opens, because many of their supporters are impatient
and will wait only so long. (SIGNED)
NEB/SB/JWH/RAE
24-Feb-2000 08:18 AM EDT (24-Feb-2000 1318 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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