The position and role of the first lady are not clearly defined in the political and social structure of Iran. Until the 2009 presidential vote, the wives of candidates did not even participate in election campaigns. Reformist candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi was the first presidential candidate to campaign alongside his wife, Zahra Rahnavard. Breaking tradition, they appeared in front of photographers and reporters holding hands. At the time, Rahnavard was the first female professor at the College of Fine Arts, a position she was awarded in June 2008.

After Rahnavard’s appearance alongside her husband, then-incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad also did some campaigning with his wife, Azam al-Sadat Farahi, who is a graduate of Iran University of Science and Technology. During Ahmadinejad’s eight years as president, Farahi accompanied her husband on some of his domestic and international travel and also visited charity organizations.

The trend continued in the 2013 presidential elections. Yet among all the wives, Hassan Rouhani’s wife is the least known. Neither her first nor last name were even mentioned in a report about the families of the candidates published by the semi-official Iranian Students News Agency four days before the election. After Rouhani became president, his wife’s name and a few other details about her found their way into the media, gleaned from Rouhani’s memoirs and interviews.

In a conversation included in Alireza Salavati's book "Siyasatmadaran-e-Javan" ("Young Politicians"), Rouhani says of his marriage, “My family insisted that I get married. I was about 20 years old. I got married in the year 1968. … My father was insistent and my mother was, too. I was not reluctant myself, either.”