in detail last week just how he views the oppression of women by Western society, arguing that Westerners are trying to destroy family life to minimize any role for women in society.
In a speech to female ministers from the 57 countries in the Organization of the Islamic Conference meeting in Tehran December 19, Ahmadi-nejad explained that Western society seeks to promote individual profit and pleasure and does not recognize morality.
It was Ahmadi-nejad’s longest exposition on the role of women in society. It wasn’t clear that he believed what he was saying, as he has personally been supportive of the professional role of women, being the first president of Iran ever to name a woman to his cabinet. In fact, he nominated three, but the Majlis would only agree to one—and that, reluctantly.
But Ahmadi-nejad’s speech did outline the views commonly held within the regime.
He said: “The main role of women can be defined as educating mankind and managing the family within the important domains of love and calm that they inspire.… As a mother, a woman demonstrates the first example of God’s love for his creatures.”
Ahmadi-nejad continued: “In recent decades, the usurpers and arrogance who use violence and brutality to pursue their goals [referring to the West] have tried to, first, humiliate women and block their prosperity and progress. Second, they have tried to destroy the foundation of the family in order to undermine the resources of a women’s kindness and love and the main pillars of a women’s role. They have tried to deprive women of playing the unique role of being a mother and wife and bearing good children. They have tried to ignore the complementary role that men and women play toward each other and turned them into adversaries and rivals.
“The outlook of material thinking and the thoughts based on it look upon mankind as a tool,” Ahmadi-nejad said. “They [Westerners] believe mankind to be much less significant than the role it deserves. And they promote men based on their material aspects.
“They don’t officially recognize morals, monotheism, justice, prosperity and divine growth. Instead, they promote maximum individual gain and pleasure even at the price of billions of others facing poverty and hardship.
“Their attitude toward women is also affected by this,” Ahmadi-nejad said. “They have changed the ways women earn a living so that women’s real roles have been undermined. Naturally, even in this situation, they unfairly ignore the very basic rights of women laborers and employees, and they have blocked the ways for the professional and managerial promotion of women. In certain societies and under various pretexts, they have even deprived women of educational opportunities.
“The worst thing they do is when we see them take women and girls away from their families and send them on tough military missions around the world. Without paying attention to women’s fundamental role in culture, science, research, management, politics and economy, they try to turn women into tools and cheaply paid laborers at the service of the capitalist system. This practice is not just a tyranny imposed on women; rather it is a tyranny imposed on the whole of mankind.…
“Today, women are the main victims of the policies pushed by the world’s tyrants. This is the most important issue of our time. The feminist movement is effectively the outcry of women crushed by capitalist thought misled by cultureless Zionists,” Ahmadi-nejad said.
