Iran set to appoint its first female envoy since 1979 Islamic revolution

Iran is set to appoint its first female envoy since the 1979 Islamic revolution, a report said.

Marzieh Afkham, who served as the nation's first foreign ministry spokeswoman, will head off a mission in East Asia. However, it is not clear to which country she would be posted, reported The Guardian.

She will be the second female ambassador Iran has had. Mehrangiz Dolatshahi, a three-time MP who advocated family protection law, which gave women the right of divorce and child custody, was the first Iranian female ambassador to Denmark in 1976, under the last shah's rule.

Women in Iran require the permission of their husband or legal custodian to travel abroad. The government too, is reluctant to promote women who are single and not married. Afkham married last year.

The news came after moderate President Hassan Rouhani said last week that it was his government's duty to create equal opportunities for women. He also opposed crackdowns by the religious police on women who refused to wear the "mandatory hijab" and showed their hair. However, a decision to overturn these practices does not rest solely in his hands.

The decision was welcomed by the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran (ICHRI), a leading rights group based in New York.

A prominent Iranian professor and commentator, Sadeq Zibakalam, also lauded the move by saying that it will pave the way for women being promoted to more senior jobs in Iran.