Participation of women in all spheres of public life is a must, observed vice president, adding gender mainstreaming can promote sustainable development.
Speaking on the sidelines of a gathering of nationwide executive committees to reduce pollution, Masoumeh Ebtekar, stated that Khatami administration has had a successful record in promoting women's administrative participation. "Women have been performing in the capacity of deputy ministers and mid-ranking managers. The ratio of employed women to the total working population is closing in on the corresponding figure for working men," she added. "Although, not sufficient, it is a step forward."
She insisted that those in the upper echelon of executive power in the future should pave the way for more active participation of women and for appointing them to top administrative posts.
Ebtekar highlighted the necessity of incorporating women's viewpoints and concerns into management programs to promote development. "Many governmental and non-governmental institutions owe their progress to gender mainstreaming," he stated.
Ebtekar, who also heads the Department of Environment, said that preserving natural resources for the posterity is one of the fundamental bases of sustainable development.
Ebtekar explained that women's concerns about their children's destiny and the future generations would ease attainment of sustainable development through reasonable consumption of natural resources.

Zohreh Zarshenas was born in Tehran in 1951.
She studied English literature and received both her MA and Ph.D. in ancient cultures and languages from Tehran University.
Zarshenas became head of the Department of Ancient Cultures and Languages at the Literature and Human Sciences Research Center in 1996--a post she has retained for eight years.
The scholar is proficient in English and familiar with German, France and the ancient Sanskrit and Pahlavi languages. She specializes in Soghdi--considered as an extinct language today.
One of the most important projects undertaken by Zarshenas is a Middle Persian-Modern Persian dictionary which is the first of its kind ever complied in the Persian speaking world. The project took Zarshenas 10 years to accomplish. This dictionary contains a total 200,000 entries and is being prepared for publication.
Zarshenas is among the few scholars with complete mastery of Soghdi language--another one being Dr. Badrozzaman Qarib.
Zarshenas believes that dead languages are not for the purpose of conversation, but are used for analyzing texts and terms. She believes that several words used in modern Persian have been borrowed from Soghdi.
According to the linguist, Soghdi language in ancient times played a role similar to that of English in the modern times. It used to be the language of interaction between different peoples.
One of her prominent works is the 'Six Soghdi Texts' including ancient tales with moral and instructions. Extensive contrastive analysis revealed that the stories have Iranian origins. These stories have been taken and impressed by other cultures and returned to Iran again later.
She has published several articles on ancient cultures and languages in creditable journals including 'A Soghdian Tale', 'Ancient Iranian Themes in Hafez Poetry', 'Hafez and Shakespeare: Confrontation Between East and West' (1990), 'Soghdian Tale of a Prosperous Old Man' (1993) and 'Soghdian Tale of the Fox and Monkey'.

First Asian and Muslim Women Games were held at Azadi Sports Complex in Tehran.

Tehran Mayor Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad said the municipality had set aside six billion rials to cover the costs pertaining to the First Asian and Muslim Capitals' Women Games.
Speaking at a news briefing, he said, "Sports events are today administered by civil management organizations in the world. The same trend should be followed in Tehran. The Third Plan Law has stipulated that physical education be handed over to the municipality, but this has failed to be done yet."
He expressed hope that the goal would be achieved within the next two months before the end of the Third Plan (March 20).
The mayor regretted about the extremely insufficient funds allotted to promotion of women's sports programs in Iran. "Women's annual sports budget was officially announced at seven billion rials for the whole country," he exclaimed.
Ahmadi-Nejad insisted that women's health would affect the health of future generations and called on the officials to be accountable in this regard.
"Sporting activities for women are very important especially in larger cities where people are less physically active," he said, adding 60 percent of sports halls being built in Tehran will be allocated to women.
He recalled that Tehran had only one major sports complex for women when he was appointed as mayor. "The number has increased to 10 already, " he said.
Tehran Municipality hosted the First Asian and Muslim Capitals' Women Games during January 23-30.

Head of State Welfare Organization (SWO) said special shelters in all provincial capitals provide services to an average 800 distressed women yearly.
Mohammad-Reza Rahchamani told ILNA that the shelters have been active since 2001 and women suffering from family problems can voluntarily use their services.
"These shelters in fact provide temporary accommodation to women who have fled home for any reason especially family violence," he said. "The women are first provided with counseling and psychological help. The efforts will focus on restoring them to normal lives. In case, they have problems that cannot be easily resolved, they are trained in certain vocations and skills and helped to lead independent lives."
Rahchamani insisted that the service would only be provided to those referring to the shelters voluntarily. "These women can leave the shelters upon their will. Given the policy to keep the locations undisclosed, women needing help should refer to social emergency centers or SWO branches in their cities to be guided to the shelters," he added.

Semnan endorsed 77 projects this year to promote women's socio-cultural participation.

A report released by Women Participation Center's Planning Department indicates 77 projects were endorsed in the current year (started March 20) to promote women's cultural/social participation in Semnan province.
The projects include 55 educational, one employment, eight information-dissemination, seven supportive, and seven recreational and sports schemes, ILNA wrote.
Almost 1.4 billion rials has been set aside to press ahead with women-related projects in this central province.
As per an executive bylaw endorsed by the cabinet, the priority of women-based projects in the province goes to 34 official and unofficial training schemes, eight cultural and artistic plans, eight plans for improving leisure time activities, seven for generation of jobs, four for legal consulting services, one for empowering non-governmental organizations and three for establishing and enhancing cooperatives.
Article 158 of the Third Five-Year Development Plan (2000-2005) stipulates that some 0.25 percent of the executive organizations' budget should be earmarked for improving women's participation.

A rural woman in Alamout, Qazvin province (Photo by Oshin D. Zakarian)

Female protesters form a chain with large paper dolls displacing names of women murdered by their partners during a demonstration in front of the town hall in Seville, Spain, on Nov. 24, 2004.

A Spanish government bill designed to crack down on violence against women became law on Friday a month after parliament unanimously approved it, AFP reported.
The law provides for women who are victims of domestic violence to receive legal, economic, social and psychological help.
It also contains educational clauses to help bring more gender equality to schools and introduces a complaints mechanism against potentially damaging advertising.
Employment Minister Jesus Caldera said that it could well be that the law would not bring an end to deaths from domestic violence in a country which saw almost 100 women killed by their partner or a male family member in 2004.
But, "from today, women know they will be able to benefit from the support and protection of public services," Caldera said.
Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has made tackling the problem of domestic violence in Spain a top priority and said on taking office in April that he saw violence against women as the country's "worst shame."
Feminist associations had been loudly calling for a law to be introduced since the death in 1997 of Ana Orantes, a mother of 11 in her 60s who was burned alive by her former husband.
Following a court decision Orantes had been obliged to continue sharing a house with her former husband, a situation which she denounced in a television interview shortly before her death.

Hands are the most visible parts of you, but they also take a lot of abuse. You use them in everyday activity, and yet, they are the ultimate accessory. You must give them the same attention you give your face.
* Soften your hands even while you do the dishes. Add a little almond oil (about a teaspoon) to dishwater. The water will soften rough skin while the oil seals the moisture.
* Slough off dead skin cells with a solution made of sea salt lemon. Brush it into hands with an old toothbrush. Do this twice a week to soften hands and remove discoloration.
* Wash hands thoroughly with warm water, then, using a coarse washcloth, rub briskly. While skin is slightly damp, apply a mixture of one teaspoon honey and one teaspoon olive oil. Place hands in small plastic bags, then in a pair of cotton gloves for thirty minutes. The heat helps the treatment penetrate.
* Warm a cup of milk in the microwave for thirty seconds (or until warm, but comfortable to the touch). Soak your hands for five minutes to strengthen nails and hydrate skin. Not only is milk loaded with lactic acid, a natural alpha hydroxy acid that gently exfoliates dead skin, but its high calcium content will strengthen fragile nails.
Soft Hands: So your hands don't feel soft anymore? Before you go to bed, lavish on the vaseline and then pop on a pair of cotton gloves. Your hands will be incredibly soft by morning.
Too much water and chemicals: Get into the habit of wearing rubber gloves when you do any cleaning around the house. The reason? Cleaning agents can be extremely harsh on both nails and hands. The nails when exposed to water, swell and then shrink back as they dry. This contributes to brittle nails.
Hand Massage: To stimulate circulation, rub your palm over the back of the hand and then repeat with the other hand. This movement is very similar to washing your hands and it does not only stimulate circulation, it also warms the hands.

Sudanese women activists demanded a role in the new peacetime government and positions on a commission which will write a constitution, Reuters reported.
Women hold few positions of power under the current government headed by President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, who took power in a military coup in 1989, despite the fact that more women are now working and obtaining higher education.
An agreement this month to end more than two decades of civil war in Sudan's south raised hopes of a more representative government in Khartoum. But women say it is not enough.
"We (women) need to be part of the committee which will decide the constitution," said Zeinab Bader el-Din, a member of an umbrella group of opposition parties.
"And we need to have gender issues put into the constitution," she told a meeting of dozens of women activists from all parts of Sudan.
They will present to the United Nations, the government and the southern Sudanese ex-rebels a list of women they want to be included on six commissions which will create the new government, including the constitution.
The commissions, to be formed in the coming weeks, will include opposition political forces.
"It is very possible that some of our names can get on these lists if we lobby, lobby hard," said university professor Amna Ahmed Rahma.
The Sudanese women's emancipation movement enjoyed early success in the 1950s and 1960s, with women winning the vote soon after independence from Britain in 1956. But women say successive military dictatorships destroyed their momentum.
The activists said they would emphasize a paragraph in the power-sharing peace protocol which specifically grants equal rights for men and women.
Swanee Hunt, a former US ambassador and head of the organization Women Waging Peace, told the meeting women should use the upcoming Sudan donors conference in Norway to demand that gender issues be included in all parts of the discussions.
She cited the Tokyo conference on the reconstruction of Afghanistan as an example of how women's rights were tabled.