Women in Iran: Rights, Roles, and Empowerment

Introduction: Gender in the Middle East and Iran

In order to understand the position of women in Iran — with respect to their roles, rights, and empowerment — it is important to appreciate the wider picture of conditions across the Middle East and the contrast that exists with the West. These two regions represent different polarities in terms of culture, perspectives on women, assigned roles, granted rights, and the positions that women hold in their respective societies. There is still no in-depth understanding of the lives of women in the Middle East and the roles they are expected to play. In the majority of societies in the region, women are rarely seen carrying out any meaningful public role, let alone being heard. They are assigned background roles in this predominantly Muslim world, and persistent stereotypes and judgments about social practices produce a one-dimensional depiction of women that rarely reflects the real depth and variety of their lived experiences.

Some common depictions focus on freedom of dress — or the lack thereof — the burdensome roles of wife and mother within the household, and subtler issues such as the right to drive. However, these are only fragments of a broader reality shaped by factors such as social class, prevailing customs, family traditions, geographical location, and cross-cultural influences, among others.

When discussing sensitive issues like gender in the Middle East, it is therefore essential to consider the context in which those issues arise. Relevant contexts include the value of family networks, the progression of rights over time, the variation in family and personal status laws across countries or regions, and the role of Islamic law (Sharia) in specific matters. The influence of indigenous religions and religious practices on cultural norms must also be considered. On this contextual basis, the discussion that follows does not treat gender in isolation, but constantly compares and contrasts Iran — and the Middle East more broadly — with the West and with other countries in the region (TeachMideast, 2018).

Present-day Iran is unique in many respects, even as it shares similarities with other nations of the Middle East. When Iran is mentioned, many people's thoughts turn immediately to its interference in regional affairs and its nuclear program. Iran appears to be at odds with many nations around the world, including some of its Middle Eastern neighbors. The country is governed by a strict theocratic constitution, and since the 1979 revolution, women have been at the forefront of confronting and challenging the heavy restrictions imposed upon them.

Women and Education in Iran

The role of Iranian women in education has been of great interest, particularly because, as an Islamic Republic, Iran legally prohibits women from pursuing education in certain fields. Although there has been a trend toward expanding women's educational access in recent decades, persistent segregation still denies women fair and equal access to educational institutions.

This is especially striking when one considers that women's college education in Iran was delayed significantly until the last decades of the twentieth century, whereas in England the first women entered university in 1893, and in the United States universities such as Chicago, Cornell, and Berkeley began admitting female students in the 1890s. This time gap placed Iranian women at a considerably lower educational standing. It is worth noting, however, that since the 1979 revolution the rate of women's enrollment in tertiary education has gradually increased. UNESCO placed women's enrollment in Iran at 51% in 2005 — an impressive figure compared with 72% in Canada and 70% in the United Kingdom in 2007.

Despite significant strides toward a more equitable educational system, equal educational rights for Iranian women have not yet been fully achieved. Studies on women's contemporary position in universities indicate that women do not make up a substantial share of the academic workforce. Female academic appointment rates remain relatively low, and gender-based discrimination continues to influence the selection of candidates for open academic positions (Rahbari, 2016, p. 1005).

It has been widely argued that female education can lead to later marriage by altering women's priorities in two specific ways: first, enrollment in academic institutions consumes time and is not easily compatible with married life; and second, the acquisition of education significantly increases both the opportunities available to women and their motivation to pursue alternatives to marriage-related roles. The increased enrollment of women in Iranian universities has not been welcomed by all segments of Iranian society, and sociopolitical debates have emerged about the role of higher education for women. The Iranian parliament has at times discussed whether enrollment quotas should be placed on the number of women admitted to public colleges and universities (Zahedifar, 2012).

Women, Religion, and Islamic Law

The intersection of women and religion in Iran is equally significant. Iran has operated under an Islamic political system since it was established in 1979 under Imam Khomeini. It is the only political system in the world in which politics and religion are so intimately intertwined. The Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, is regarded as both the highest religious and political authority, even within a system that also features an elected presidency. Notably, the situation of women has in some respects been worse under customary law than under Islamic law itself — yet Islamic law still contains provisions that place Iranian women at a clear disadvantage.

For instance, traditional Islamic law permitted child marriage, and a girl could be forced into marriage by a male guardian. Women were permitted to marry only one man at a time, whereas men were allowed under Islamic law to take up to four wives and an unlimited number of concubines. Islamic law also disadvantaged women in divorce: a husband is required to provide financial support for a divorced wife for only three menstrual cycles following the pronouncement of divorce, a provision that can leave women in financial hardship.

Harsh as these laws may seem, they have been jealously guarded in Iran. In other Middle Eastern countries, however, reforms and legal reinterpretations have been undertaken to reduce the inequalities between men and women — typically in states whose governments do not depend on clerical goodwill to function or implement political decisions. Even in those countries, reforms have faced strong opposition from Islamic clerics and other conservative religious forces who accuse reformers of violating divine law. In Iran, gains achieved for women's rights in the 1970s and early 1980s were largely reversed by the rise of Islamic fundamentalism. Women were relegated to traditional domestic roles and subjected to harsh criminal penalties for violating dress codes, all justified in the name of religion (UNHCR, 2018).