Tehran, April 29: The wife of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has accused Western countries of using the United Nations to promote illicit affairs, the official IRNA news agency reported Wednesday.
“Westerners exploit the United Nations structure to promote illicit affairs,” Azam-ol-Sadat Farahi told a conference of Muslim women thinkers on Tuesday without elaborating.
“The family, which is the main pillar of every society, has collapsed in the West and they are seeking to extend their problem to the Islamic world by spreading decadent schemes,” she said.
” The family, which is the main pillar of every society, has collapsed in the West and they are seeking to extend their problem to the Islamic world by spreading decadent schemes ” Azam-ol-Sadat Farahi
“Westerners pursue their improper schemes under the name of development and (alleviating) social discrimination,” she added.
Iran hardliners are fierce critics of Western culture and feminism, and since Ahmadinejad came to power in 2005 his government has sought to encourage women to stick to the traditional roles as mothers and wives.
Iran has refused to join the convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, despite attempts by a reformist parliament during its 2000 to 2004 mandate.
Conservatives find the treaty at odds with Islamic law and teachings.
Under Iran’s Sharia-based law a woman’s blood money, testimony and inheritance are half of a man’s and women suffer inequalities in marriage, divorce and child custody.
Women rights activists campaigning for equal status with men in Iran have faced pressure and intimidation in recent years and several have landed in jail over calling for changes to the law.
Iran imposes a strict Islamic dress code, requiring women to cover their hair and body in public or face punishment but this has not stopped urban women to sport figure-hugging coats and loose scarves showing locks of hair.
The authorities, who frown upon man-woman relationships out of wedlock, are also concerned about the divorce rate, which has risen steadily in recent years.
–Agencies