Campaigning alongside her husband in the presidential elections, Zahra Rahnavard, the wife of Hossein Mousavi, is seen by many Iranians as the local version of Michelle, the wife of US President Barack Obama.
“We look at her and we say, ‘we want to be like her in the future,’ “ Shakiba Shakerhosseie, one of 12,000 people who recently packed Tehran’s Azadi (Freedom) stadium to hear Rahnavard, told CNN last fortnight. Since her husband unveiled his presidential bid, the mother of three has attended most of his rallies.
In many rallies, the former university chancellor even stole light from her husband Mousavi, a former premier running against incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and two others in the June 12, polls.
She has given numerous speeches, notably criticizing treatment of women, especially under Ahmadinejad.
This earned her an analogy with Michelle Obama who had contributed to the election of her husband as America’s first-ever black president. “This is the first time after the Revolution we see a lady behind the president,” said Farhad Mahmoudi. “And this is why we’re so happy because we can have a first lady.”
Despite playing a key role in the 1979 Islamic revolution that toppled the US-backed shah, Iranian women have had but a token presence in politics with just a handful of parliament seats and two cabinet posts. Many Iranians have no clues what their presidents’ wives look like.
All Iranian presidents, even reformist Mohammad Khatami, mostly kept their spouses out of the spotlight and shied away from appearing with them at political events or on foreign trips.
Rahnavard, 64, holds a PhD in political science and served as an advisor to Khatami, who was president from 1997 to 2005. She is a Qur’an researcher and authored several books on art and politics. She has long campaigned for the economic empowerment of women and for changing Iran’s laws deemed discriminatory to women.
The grandmother has said that mothering three daughters has made her more sensitive and concerned about women’s issues. Rahnavard, a sculptor and painter, says she enjoys rap music and her favorite accessory is a bohemian handbag adorned with Iranian tribal motifs.
In 2005, shortly after Ahmadinejad’s election, she invited Nobel peace laureate Shirin Ebadi to speak at Tehran’s all-women Al-Zahra university. This angered conservatives who accuse Ebadi of tarnishing the country’s image by her criticism of the human rights situation.
Rahnavard was replaced as university chancellor less than a year later.
“I hope freedom of speech, freedom of the pen and freedom of thought will not be forgotten,” she has told an election rally.
