Odessa

The United Nations has proved once again how irrelevant and clueless they really are.
From the press announcement for the April 28, 2010 organizational session of the Economic and Social Council:

. . . the Council elected 11 new members to fill an equal number of vacancies on the Commission on the Status of Women for four-year terms beginning at the first meeting of the Commission’s fifty-sixth session in 2011 and expiring at the close of its fifty-ninth session in 2015. (listing countries elected) . . . Iran . . . .

The commission is supposedly "dedicated exclusively to gender equality and advancement of women. It is the principal global policy-making body. Every year, representatives of Member States gather at United Nations Headquarters in New York to evaluate progress on gender equality, identify challenges, set global standards and formulate concrete policies to promote gender equality and advancement of women worldwide."

And Iran will make a good steward of these causes because? It's a country that flogs women they deem as dressing immodestly, which means showing anything but hands and face in some areas; a country that still stones women to death for adultery; a country where many women still have little choice in whom they marry. Iran is a country that really needs to learn a thing or two about equality before they should be allowed on any council advocating for women.

Some dissension has come from within Iran itself:
International Campaign for Human Rights In part:

We, a group of gender-equality activists, believe that for the sake of women’s rights globally, an empty seat for the Asia group on CSW is much preferable to Iran’s membership. We are writing to alert you to the highly negative ramifications of Iran’s membership in this international body.

Iran discussing issues related to women. What was the UN thinking. Oh that's right, they don't.