Masoumeh Ebtekar, the Vice President for Women’s and Family Affairs, said that she had written to the Secretary of the Guardian Council to approve a woman for the first time in Iran’s history. Referring to the Constitutional definition of a presidential candidate, Ebtekar said “I asked the Guardian Council to approve a woman among the candidates for the first time to help revive the country's social capital”.
Hadi Tahan-Nazif, the youngest member of the Guardian Council, said in an interview that no candidate has ever been rejected because of their gender. When pressed on the issue, Tahan-Nazif said “women have registered and been rejected because they did not qualify” adding that “if the Guardian Council had such a ban, it would have told the Interior Ministry not to register women”. Tahan-Nazif blamed the media for creating an issue around the approval of female candidates.
In commenting on Zahra Shojaei’s nomination for President, lawyer and Presidential advisor Shahindokht Molaverdi wrote on Instagram: “Unfortunately, in 1400 (2021), in the 21st century, we still see that being a man is considered a criterion for being human”. Molaverdi added that “the registration of Zahra Shojaei is a serious test for the Guardian Council; she is a political and religious figure (shakhsiyat-e siasi va mazhabi). Let women be among political people (rejal-e-siasi) andmen so that they can enjoy their most basic human right, which is the right to be elected”.