Analyzing the Discourse of the Political Place of Women in Iran in Ahmadinejad’s and Rouhani’s Administrations

The purpose of this article is to analyze the discourse of the political place of women in Ahmadinejad’s and Rouhani’s administrations, and through a descriptive-analytical method, the present study seeks to answer this question: Regarding the change in the political situation of women during Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s and Hassan Rouhani’s administrations, what discourses have been formed in the executive institutions of Iran, and according to this discourses, what is the place of women in this discourses? In answer to this question, the author believes that the discourse of fundamentalism in the Fifth Development Plan of Iran is in fact derived from the discourse of the Islamic Revolution of Iran and, more generally, from the discourse of Islamism and emphasis on the constitution, economic development, justice, religious and moral values and independence, and has a special focus on the political place of women; in contrast, reformist discourse in Iran's Third and Fourth Development Plans focuses on reform, political development, and civil society. Governments, according to their political discourse and views, have paid special attention to the issue of women's political place and have tried to apply their views to the women's employment by formulating new policies or implementing policies that have long been provided for in the laws, and that is why policies change with the change of governments and we do not see a steady trend in the women's employment in Iran. The Political System of the Islamic Republic of Iran consists of two discourses, and depending on the circumstances, one of them is the dominant discourse and the other is marginalized.