The Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has announced he intends to appoint Iran's first women cabinet ministers since the 1979 Islamic revolution.Mahnaz Afkhami was one of the last two women to take part in an Iranian government before the revolution.

But it is far from likely that the women named by Mr Ahmadinejad as potential cabinet ministers will be pushing an agenda favoured by Ms Afkhami.

Fatima Ajorlou, his choice for welfare and social security minister, and Marzieh Vahid Dastjerdi, health, and Sousan Keshavarz, education, are all considered to be hardline conservatives.

I have no doubt that women are going to win...history is moving in a different direction