Marzieh Vahid-Dastjerdi

Marzieh Vahid-Dastjerdi
Minister of Health and Medical Education
Incumbent
Assumed office 9 August 2009
President	Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
Preceded by	Kamran Bagheri Lankarani
Member of Parliament of Iran
In office 3 May 1992 – 3 May 2000
Constituency	Tehran
Personal details
Born	11 February 1959 (1959-02-11) (age 52) Tehran, Iran
Nationality	Iranian

Marzieh Vahid-Dastjerdi (born 11 February 1959, Tehran, in Persian: مرضیه وحید دستجردی) is an Iranian university professor and former parliamentarian, who is Iran's Minister of Health and Medical Education.

Vahid-Dastjerdi is the first female government minister in Iran since the Islamic Revolution. She is the third female government minister in Iranian history, after Farrokhroo Parsa and Mahnaz Afkhami.^[1]

Background

Marzieh Vahid-Dastjerdi is the daughter of Seifollah Vahid Dastjerdi, who was head of the Red Crescent Society of Iran.^[2]

She entered Tehran University of Medical Sciences in 1976 to study medicine, and qualified in nursing and obstetrics, obtaining a doctoral degree in 1988.^[2][3][4]

Medical career

Vahid-Dastjerdi was a faculty member at Tehran University for 13 years, and director of the Nursing and Obstetrics Department there for six years. She was a founder member of Iran's Specialized Scientific Association of Reproduction and Sterility, and a member of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (1993–2000).^[2] From 2004 to 2009 she headed Arash Hospital.^[3]

Vahid-Dastjerdi has worked on the organizing committees for prominent conferences on subjects related to medicine. Examples include a Workshop on “Higher Education & Development in Knowledge Based Society: Towards Enhancing Quality and Relevance in Medical and Professional Education”^[5] and the 2nd International Congress of Medical Ethics in Iran which took place in Tehran during April 2008.^[6]

She is a member of the editorial board of the Tehran University of Medical Sciences Journal of Family and Reproductive Health.^[7]

She has written and translated many books in the field of women's diseases.^[2]

Political career

Vahid-Dastjerdi in 1993 jointly founded the Islamic Association of Physicians, a political party.^[8] She was elected to the Fourth Majlis (1992–1996) representing Tehran, and re-elected in 1996.^[9][10] She was elected chairwoman of the Majlis Committee on Women, Family and Youth in August 1997.^[11]

While in the Majlis, Vahid-Dastjerdi supported legal changes making it harder for women to obtain a divorce, keep custody of their children after divorce, or have an abortion. She is described by one critic as supporting the role of women as "pious mothers devoted to Islam, to their duties to their husbands, and to the Islamic Republic." She opposed a bill that might have led Iran to join the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women.^[12]

In April 1998, Vahid-Dastjerdi helped draft a proposal for sexual segregation in hospitals and medical institutions to comply with Sharia. This plan envisaged female hospitals for women staffed exclusively by women, on a model sharing some features of London's Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Hospital, which led to the founding of the London School of Medicine for Women. The plan was eventually rejected on grounds of cost, after heavy criticism from doctors and health professionals.^[9] A similar plan to separate Iranian hospitals by gender, based on Vahid-Dastjerdi's original proposal, was enacted in 2006.^[13] The president of the Council of Iranian Medical Specialists described the plan as "not even realistic” because of the "shortage of female specialists in many cities".

In May, 1999, she addressed a rally in Tehran to protest the ban on wearing the headscarf in the Turkish parliament. She condemned the ban as an affront to Muslims and a crime against human rights.^[14]

On September 3, 2009, the Majlis confirmed Vahid-Dastjerdi as Iran's Minister of Health and Medical Education. She received 175 favoring, 82 opposing, and 29 abstaining votes, and is the first female minister in the history of the Islamic Republican government. On the same day, two other female candidates for ministries (Sousan Keshavarz and Fatemeh Ajorlou) were voted down.^[15]

Vahid-Dastjerdi is considered politically conservative, but supports a role for women in society. She told parliamentarians "Women must have a greater role in the country's affairs." After her confirmation, she said "I think today women reached their long-standing dream of having a woman in the cabinet to pursue their demands. This is an important step for women and I hold my head high."^[16]

Publications

The following is probably not a complete list.^[17][18]

Jannani S, Vahid-Dastjerdi M. Relationship of placenta accreta to previous cesarean section. 5th Seminar of Fertility and Infertility, Tehran, February 1991.

Vahid-Dastjerdi M, Moalleman M. Cesarean section indications in Arash hospital, 1994 [PhD thesis]. Tehran, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, 1995.

Ramazanali F., Vahid Dastjerdi M., Beigi A., Moini A. The Relationship Between Maternal HCT Levels, Birth Weight And Risk Of Low Birth Weight Iranian Journal Of Pediatrics Winter 2006; 16(4):447–454.

Vahid Dastjerdi M., Alavi Tabari N., Asgari Z., Beygi A. The relationship of endometrial thickness detected by transvaginal sonography with the results of endometrial biopsy & hysteroscopic directed biopsy in post menopausal bleeding Tehran University Medical Journal; Vol. 65, No. 11, Feb 2008

Moeini Ashraf, Shafieizadeh N., Vahid Dastjerdi M., Majidi Sh., Eslami B. The Effect Of Age On Ovarian Reserve Markers In Tehranian Women With Normal Fertility International Journal Of Endocrinology And Metabolism (IJEM) June 2008; 6(2):114–119.

References

1. ^ The first woman minister in the Islamic Republic (in Persian)
2. ^ ^{a b c d} Marzieh Vahid Dastjerdi joins government as Minister of Health (Persian)
3. ^ ^{a b} 1st female minister in the history of Islamic Republic of Iran
4. ^ http://www.wluml.org/english/pubs/rtf/dossiers/dossier23-24/?D23-24-07-iran-chron.rtf There are 15–20,000 political prisoners in Turkey
5. ^ http://hequality.tums.ac.ir/committees.htm Higher Education and Development in Knowledge Base Society
6. ^ http://icme.tums.ac.ir/english/content/?contentID=76 2nd International Congress of Medical Ethics in Iran
7. ^ http://journals.tums.ac.ir/about.aspx?org_id=59&culture_var=en&journal_id=25&segment=en&issue_id=1474 About this journal
8. ^ http://www.parstimes.com/politics/legally_registered_parties.html List of Legally Registered parties in Iran
9. ^ ^{a b} http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2267/is_2_67/ai_63787338/ Appendix: Chronology of Events Regarding Women in Iran since the Revolution of 1979
10. ^ http://www.iranonline.com/iran/iran-info/Government/Majlis/Majlis-members-1996.html Islamic Republic of Iran Parliament (Majlis)
11. ^ http://www.iran-e-azad.org/english/boi/07350905_97.html Representative Office of The National Council of Resistance of Iran BRIEF ON IRAN No. 735
12. ^ Hardline women won't help Iran Guardian website
13. ^ http://www.sidewalklyrics.com/?p=1244 A Minister in Support of Gender Separation
14. ^ http://www.muslimedia.com/archives/world99/turk-mp.htm Turkey's secular fundamentalists target woman over hijab
15. ^ http://www.bbc.co.uk/persian/iran/2009/09/090903_he_ir88_cabinet.shtml
16. ^ Dream win for female minister
17. ^ Caesarean section rates in teaching hospitals of Tehran: 1999–2003
18. ^ http://sid.ir/En/WriterPaper.asp?ID=VAHID%20DASTJERDI%20M.&Name=VAHID%20DASTJERDI%20M.

Political offices
Preceded by Kamran Bagheri Lankarani	Minister of Health 2009-present	Succeeded by Incumbent
Civic offices
Preceded by Rozita Shamsaee	Head of Arash Hospital 2004-2009	Succeeded by Nasim Vahidi

Persondata
Name	Vahid-Dastjerdi, Marzieh
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1959-02-11
Place of birth	Tehran, Iran
Date of death
Place of death