NOTE: Before answering the following questions, read the “Background” and watch the video under “Resources” below.

1. List the who, what, where and when of the news item.

2. What is the purpose of the UN’s Status of Women commission?

3. List the rights violations imposed on women by the ruling autocratic mullahs of Iran as mentioned in the article.

4. What points did Hillel Neuer, director of UN Watch, make about Iran being elected to the women’s rights commission?

5. a) How did the Biden administration respond to Iran winning a seat on the women’s rights commission?
b) Mr. Neuer said the US "should also speak out to condemn the obscene election of [Iranian Supreme Leader] Ayatollah Khamenei's regime to a women's rights body." Why do you think the Biden administration has not done so?

6. a) Why do you think the vote was a secret ballot?
b) Why should the Biden administration publicize how the U.S. voted?

7. In Japan, 83-year-old Yoshiro Mori, the president of the 2020 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo resigned in February following outrage over comments he made about women, saying women talk too much and “if their speaking time isn’t restricted to a certain extent, they have difficulty finishing, which is annoying.” He also said, “The education ministry has been very insistent about choosing female directors. But a board meeting with plenty of women will make it drag on.”
Following Mr. Mori’s comments, hundreds of female Olympic volunteers resigned in protest and demanded that he step down, female opposition lawmakers in the Japanese Diet (similar to U.S. Congress) wore white as a show of protest, corporate sponsors threatened to withdraw and several runners in the Olympic torch relay quit.

Why do you think there is no world outcry - or outrage in Japan - over Iran’s election to the women’s rights commission? Or outrage by the Biden administration? — Candidate Joe Biden [and VP Kamala Harris] ran on a platform that stated they would "Protect and empower women around the world."