Masoumeh Ebtekar (Persian: m`Swmh btkhr; born Niloufar Ebtekar; 21 September 1960) is current Vice President of Iran for Women and Family Affairs, being appointed on 9 August 2017. She previously headed Department of Environment from 1997 to 2005, making her the first female member in the cabinet of Iran since 1979 and the third in history. She held the same level of office from 2013 to 2017. Ebtekar first achieved fame as "Mary", the spokesperson of the students who took hostages and occupied the US Embassy in 1979.
Ebtekar was the first woman to serve as Vice-President of Iran when the reformists came to power. Along with Zahra Shojaei, she participated in the first cabinet since the Islamic Revolution to include women. She has been described as a leftist in Mohammad Khatami's alliance. Ebtekar headed the Department of Environment for eight years, introducing major structural, organizational and directional changes enabling a re-engineering of the government body. During her tenure environmental awareness and support for civil society activism in this area was enhanced. Ebtekar's appointment led to the revelation of her past, and in the US questions were raised about whether President Khatami was aware of "how deeply" the hostage-taking and holding, and anger towards its foremost public defender, "affected both the American government and the American people." Many academics and literary critiques have written and expressed their views on her published memoirs. Following this, "some ambassadors" in Tehran reportedly stated they would no "longer meet with her" and would "discourage official contract with her office." In her memoirs published as the "Grapes of Shahrivar", Ebtekar repeatedly refers to her cordial and official contacts with not only Western Ambassadors, but also many European Ministers and Presidents as well.( chapters 8-16-23-26-30-32-33) On International Women's Day in 1998, as vice-president of environmental affairs, she made a speech condemning the oppression of women by the Taliban Movement in Afghanistan. Her performance caused comment by members of the Western news media in attendance as she herself was wearing a chador, a reminder of compulsory hijab in Iran which many in the West view as a violation of women's rights. In May 1999, the WorldNetDaily claimed that she and President Mohammad Khatami had been in the guest list of the 1999 Bilderberg conference held in Sintra, Portugal on June 3-6. This allegation was repeatedly denied by Ebtekar citing the fact that President Khatami had taken part in memorial ceremonies for Imam Khomeini on those days(3-6 of June) and on World Environment Day June 6 he had inaugurated the Provincial Center for Environment Research in Tehran. In March 2002, Ebtekar was a keynote speaker at the Meeting of Women Leaders on the Environment in Helsinki, sponsored by the Finnish Ministry of the Environment. In September 2002, Ebtekar participated in the World Summit on Sustainable Development, held in Johannesburg, South Africa. In May 2005, she chaired the International Conference on Environment, Peace, and the Dialogue Among Civilizations and Cultures, held in Tehran. This event was organized by Ebtekar's Department of the Environment and also by the United Nations Environment Programme.
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Ebtekar was the first woman to serve as Vice-President of Iran when the reformists came to power. Ebtekar was the first woman to serve as Vice-President of Iran when the reformists came to power. Ebtekar was the first woman to serve as Vice-President of Iran Ebtekar was the first woman to serve as Vice-President of Iran when the reformists came to power. Ebtekar was the first woman to serve as Vice-President of Iran when the reformists came to power.
Ebtekar was the first woman to serve as Vice-President of Iran when the reformists came to power.