Iran’s authoritarian political structure alongside the dominant conservative gender ideology of the regime has resulted in women’s underrepresentation across all political decision-making positions. Although women compose a highly politicized and mobilized section of the society, as apparent by their extensive presence in the street demonstrations or activism in grassroots campaigns, women’s presence in high level decision-making positions is quite marginal. Women compose only 5.9% of the tenth Iranian parliament (2016-2020), while only one woman has served as a minister in post-Revolutionary Iran. Women face restrictions in all other political leadership roles, including the presidency or judiciary. Despite women’s low numbers in political office, their efforts, in combination with other factors, has instigated a number of important policy changes aimed at enhancing women’s rights and status, some of which occurring under the presidency of moderate Hassan Rouhani. Such reforms include policies granting mothers the ability to pass citizenship to their children, ensuring that women compose at least thirty percent of the managers in government ministries, or at last granting women (limited) access to sports stadiums as spectators. A number of female politicians have also been publicly critical of the gender discriminatory policies and behaviors of the Islamic regime, which helped revitalize the Iranian women’s rights movement. The regime’s conservative forces however have not remained silent in the face of such outspokenness and women-friendly reforms. Justifying their actions through protecting the Islamic society and its values, Iran’s hardliners have waged harassment campaigns against critical women politicians, succeeding in their removal from office or hindering their political influence. Drawing from the literature on women and politics, this paper analyzes women’s substantive representation during the Rouhani-era gender politics to further explore the complexity of women acting as ‘critical actors’ when a ‘critical mass’ of women in politics is absent (Krook and Childs 2009). While much of the literature highlights the contexts and conditions that enable women politicians (and at times men) to substantively represent women by pursuing their interests in policy-making, this paper aims to highlight the conditions that lead to backlash and suppression of women critical actors. It argues that Iran’s closed authoritarian context with its undemocratic institutions effectively resists the influence of the limited number of critical actors that may rise to power. Iran’s Guardians Council is particularly tasked with removing incumbent women critical actors by disqualifying them to stand for the next election, as witnessed in the 2020 parliamentary elections.