The title of ‘Iran’s first lady’ has caused a stir as President Ebrahim Raisi’s wife denies the role but keeps acting like one in a country with no such tradition.
Jamileh Alamolhoda, Raisi’s wife and daughter of the Supreme Leader’s representative in Razavi Khorasan province, hosted an international event this week on the role of women in media in Mashhad — her hometown and his hardline cleric father’s turf.
Moderate Iranian news website Rouydad24 talked about Jamileh Alamolhoda’s aspiration to write a book similar to that of Michelle Obama’s. Rouydad24 cited her as saying, “They asked me to write a book similar to this one. I read the book, and it was very beautiful, captivating, and influential. I even showed some parts of it to the president, and he said that writing a book in this field is the right thing to do.”
The presenters of the event, claiming to have brought together “100 media women from 40 countries,” introduced Jamileh Alamolhoda as “Iran’s first lady” whenever she was about to take the stage. However, she started one of the panels of the event addressing the issue, saying that the wife of the Supreme Leader is actually the country’s first lady because Ali Khamenei is the highest authority in Iran.
Her statement has drawn a wide range of reactions from the Iranian public and politicians alike, with hardliners speaking out against the existence of such a position in “an Islamic society” and describing it as a construct of Western culture that must not be copied for Iran.
Several pundits have published opinion pieces about Jamileh Alamolhoda in recent weeks, criticizing her for her double-standard approach about Western culture as she reiterates that Iranian women can best serve the family as a child-bearing housewife, but never misses a chance to accompany her husband on foreign trips.
She keeps denying the existence of the role of the country’s first lady but in practice she follows a Western model for such a role including speaking as such during the UN General Assembly week in New York with global media. She attacks the West’s ideas about women and Western-style feminism in society but has announced that she is eying writing a book similar in style to former US first lady Michelle Obama’s memoir Becoming, a number-one best seller in Iran reprinted 37 times.
In a piece for Khabar Online Sunday, Abdoljavad Mousavi decried what he calls “the infatuation of so-called anti-Western officials with the West.” He said a large number of Iran’s hardliners have a superficial and hypocritical view of the West.
“They chant slogans against the West with passionate fervor, but Western countries are the first choice for their offsprings’ education; they do not recognize the United Nations officially but long for standing at its podium and accompany all their family members in their trip to New York,” the pundit said, referring to Raisi’s large entourage to the US for the UN General Assembly.
The latest trip of Iran’s president and his hijab-cladded wife saw Alamolhoda thrust into the limelight in a global media blitz. To Newsweek, Alamolhoda spoke of the alleged “women’s rights” enjoyed by Iranian women, who for the last year have been protesting the oppressive conditions of living under the regime while hijab rebels remain locked out of public places including transport and education. Alamolhoda — who firmly believes a woman’s place is as a mother and wife — claimed Western feminism has no place in Iran.
Mousavi claimed that attention to the concept of “first lady” among the hardliners stems from “a superficial understanding of the West, Islam, identity, and the Islamic Revolution.” “They vehemently criticize the West and its manifestations, but deep down, they secretly aspire to become Westerners. They strive to imitate them, seek their approval, and conform to their standards.”
Moderate Iranian news website Rouydad24 talked about Jamileh Alamolhoda’s aspiration to write a book similar to that of Michelle Obama’s. Rouydad24 cited her as saying, “They asked me to write a book similar to this one. I read the book, and it was very beautiful, captivating, and influential. I even showed some parts of it to the president, and he said that writing a book in this field is the right thing to do.”
Hardliner Telegram channel Bisimchi Media – with links to the Revolutionary Guards – slammed Raisi’s wife for using the term about Khamenei’s wife, saying, “In the structure of the Islamic Republic of Iran and its history, we don’t have a position called ‘First Lady’.” “Are we supposed to mimic these American ideas?” asked the media outlet.
Tasnim, another IRGC-affiliated media, also rebuked Alamolhoda for her statement about the first lady, saying, “The assumption that with the presidency of an individual in Iran, a special position is created for their spouse according to the country’s constitution is certainly a mistake.”
Khamenei’s wife, Mansoureh Khojasteh Bagherzadeh, rarely appears in public but several members of her family hold senior positions. Her father was Mohammad Esmaeil Khojasteh Bagherzadeh, a famous businessman in Mashhad and her brother Hassan is a former deputy director of state broadcaster IRIB. In her absence from Iran’s political sphere, the role of a first lady is up for grabs by the president’s wife.
Mohammad-Reza Bagheri, a state TV host, also criticized Alamolhoda, saying that the first lady of Iran should be chosen from among “mothers and wives of Iran’s martyrs and not the the wives of politicians.”
Implicitly admitting that she will hire a team of ghost writers to pen the book, Alamolhoda added that “it’s unlikely that one person wrote this book, and a team of experts was probably involved. The book served as a role model for girls worldwide. It follows the pattern of Cinderella. An ordinary girl moves from ordinary life to the highest worldly position.”
Speaking about Alamolhoda’s book in response to Michele Obama, Rouydad24 said she ignores a significant point. Michelle Obama was a representative of the black women in the US — once among the most persecuted strata of US society – who became America’s first lady. However, Alamolhoda had a silver-spoon upbringing, thanks to her father’s links to the regime.
“She is the wife of the former head of the Iranian judiciary and the current president of Iran. She is the daughter of the Friday Prayer Imam of Mashhad, who holds the utmost power in the province,” the article said, arguing that “she has never represented the marginalized and oppressed segments of society.” Alamolhoda holds her social position thanks to her family status and links to regime insiders, making it very difficult for Iranian women to see a “symbol of oligarchy in Iran as a role model.”
