Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian appointed Fatemeh Mohajerani, 54, as the government spokesperson in a cabinet meeting held Wednesday.
In a first, Iran has appointed a woman as the official spokesperson of the government. Fatemeh Moherajani, a celebrated academician will now be the public face of Iran’s Masoud Pezeshkian dispensation, Iranian media reported.
As per the reports, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian appointed Fatemeh Mohajerani, 54, as the government spokesperson in a cabinet meeting held Wednesday.
Who is Fatemeh Mohajerani?
Dr Fatemeh Mohajerani was the former head of Technical and Vocational Training University of Shariati (for women) in Iran’s 11th government.
Prior to this, Mohajerani, a noted academician and administrator, had served as the chief of Center for Brilliant Talents by then-Education Minister Seyyed Mohammad Bat’hai in 2017 and has also held other positions in the country’s Education Ministry.
54-year-old Mohajerani, who has a doctorate in Business Administration from the Edinburgh University in Scotland, will now serve as the public face of the Iranian government on Pezeshkian administration.
Another first in Iran
Notably, Mohajerani’s elevation to the post is the latest in a slew of appointments of women to a senior positions recently made by the Iranian government.
Last week, President Pezeshkian has appointed Shina Ansari as Iran’s Deputy President and Head of the Department of Environment.
Ansari, whose LinkedIn profile describes her as an experienced environmental specialist with a demonstrated history of working in environmental services and skilled in waste, RCRA, sustainable development, and environmental compliance, replaces Ali Salajegheh as head of the Department of Environment.
A PhD in Environmental Management from the Science and Research University, Ansari was presently the Advisor at the Air Quality Control Centre at Tehran Municipality and previously had been Head of Environment and Sustainable Development at the Municipality and General Director of the Bureau of Comprehensive Environmental Pollution Monitoring in the Department of Environment.
Iran gets second woman minister post-1979 revolution
Pezeshkian’s cabinet also has (post-1979 Islamic Revolution) Iran’s second woman minister with Farzaneh Sadeq Malvajard being approved as the Roads and Urban Development Minister.
The Deputy Minister of Urban Planning and Architecture from January 2019 to July 2023, she got 230 out of 285-odd lawmakers present and voting despite some opposition when her name was read out in Parliament when the ministerial choices were submitted earlier this month.
Sadeq, 48, follows Marzieh Vahid Dastjerdi who was Health and Medical Education Minister in populist President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s second government.
(With IANS inputs)