article_snippet: (CNN)Earlier this month, Shahindokht Molaverdi, Iran's Vice President for Women and Family Affairs, led an official delegation to the United Nations in New York to attend the 59th session of the Commission on the Status of Women.
article_snippet: There was little in her March 11 speech to the commission to suggest that domestic factors -- including Iran's laws and policies -- play a significant role in depriving Iranian women of real gender equality and empowerment.
article_snippet: Unfortunately, Molaverdi's comments stood in sharp contrast to reality.
article_snippet: On the day Faraz Sanei delivered her March 11 speech to the commission, Amnesty International released a report raising concerns about the possible passage of two bills before Iran's parliament that would further restrict women's rights.
article_snippet: A day later, the U.N. special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran, Ahmed Shaheed, released Ahmed Shaheed fourth report to the U.N. Human Rights Council describing the dire state of human rights in the country.
article_snippet: his fourth report cited the concerns about gender discrimination that Human Rights Watch and others had raised during Iran's 2014 Universal Periodic Review, a review of every U.N. state's human rights record every four years by the U.N. Human Rights Council.
article_snippet: To many, the discrepancy between what Molaverdi said in Molaverdi speech, and what women face in Iran, smacked of diplomatic subterfuge.
article_snippet: Activists and journalists rightly responded by highlighting the many violations of women's rights in Iran, and called out Molaverdi for failing to present an accurate and complete picture of the challenges that Iranian women face.
article_snippet: Yet there was little acknowledgment by critics of the behind-the-scenes struggle that Molaverdi, who is often an outspoken critic of regressive measures restricting women's rights at home, and many others are waging every day as many others try to carve out much-needed space for Iran's beleaguered rights activists.
article_snippet: Just two days before the U.N. session, Iran's conservative Kayhan daily, thought to be close to the Office of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, published an article that showed just what Iran's women's rights activists are up against.
article_snippet: Iran's conservative Kayhan daily questioned the wisdom of allowing an official delegation to attend events such as the U.N. commission, describing the U.N. commission notion of "gender equality" as "unacceptable to the Islamic Republic.
article_snippet: an article that showed just what Iran's women's rights activists are up accused Molaverdi of "negligence" for participating in events that could damage Iran's reputation and interests, and accused the 150 or so people who attended the U.N. session as representatives of Iranian groups of doing so without full and proper vetting by Iran's security and intelligence agencies.