Economy and Gender Inequality in Iran

937 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Gender inequality issues today

Iran: Gender and Education, Politics, and Economy
Gender inequality is an issue that a large number of countries have faced, and many are still facing. Unequal treatment of the two genders can occur in settings such as: sexual, social, private, professional, educational, etc. Some countries, more than others, seem to be stuck in a vicious cycle as they strive to achieve gender equality. Iran is a country that has had its’ ups and downs in search for gender equality. This paper will discuss some of the issues the women in Iran have faced concerning education, political changes, and the economy.
According to Snapshots of a Movement, the first school in Iran for girls was established in 1837 in Urumia by American missionaries. Unfortunately, at that time only Christian girls could attend. It wasn’t until the 1870’s that Muslim girls could join. It wasn’t until 1907 that Tehran, Iran’s capital, built their first primary schools for girls. These schools in Tehran were funded by women’s NGOs. In 1918 the first Teacher Education College for girls was set up in Iran’s capital city (Dolatshahi, 2006). Under the Pahlavi dynasty (1921-1979), education changed considerably in Iran. They believed that education could be a contributing factor into making crucial changes (Hayati and Fattahi, 2005). In 1936, Tehran University admitted both males and females. By 1978, one-third of students attending universities in Iran were females (Esfandiari).
In 1979 sex segregation occurred in the schools of Iran as one of the many changes due to the Islamic Revolution. The girls were now forced to wear the Hijab, including to school. In 1980, universities in Iran and some high schools were temporarily shut down to make changes. They ended up being sh...

... middle of paper ...

...the households had died in war. Other families needed both the mothers and fathers to work in order to get by. In order to survive, political changes had to have been made. Protesting and pressure lead to the reversal of many of the constricting laws recently placed. Bans were lifted off of several university fields allowing women to now pursue them. Even though the bans were lifted, and the economy was better, women still had a harder time getting employment than men.
Iran is a country who has had their ups and downs while searching for gender equality. They are not alone in that search. Women of many countries have had to face issues of gender inequality and for several countries it is an ongoing issue. If Iran can get out of the cycle of moving towards gender equality and then backing away, there is hope that it could become a leading country in women’s rights.

Show More
Related

  • The Effects of the Islamic Revolution of 1979 on Gender Equality

    1625 Words  | 4 Pages

    ...made. “Their domain of activities has extended, if not in the formal market, to the informal sector of the economy and to social affairs. The remarkable indices of these reforms are that urban and rural women volunteers participate in most important political institutions (i.e., parliament and Islamic councils) or in the establishment of NGOs.”21 This is a very large improvement, furthermore, women are gaining access to and “empowerment through higher education”21. Higher education leads to many positives, higher paying jobs, greater social standing, are just some of the advantages that will be accelerated over time as the gender gap becomes less prominent. However, “in Iranian society, men still are perceived to be more important than women”21 though this idea is decreasing at an increasing rate, it illustrates how pervasive and damaging a negative ideology can be.

    Read More

  • Welfare In The 1900's

    701 Words  | 2 Pages

    of work. The state could no longer provide them any assistance for all that were in need. Women

    Read More

  • Islamic Women: Oppression or Equality?

    1058 Words  | 3 Pages

    Do you believe that the women of Islam are oppressed or do you believe that these women are treated equally? The question has arisen whether there is true equality between men and women in the Islamic community. There are many different positions and views regarding this topic. It is especially apparent more recently that women are striving and doing all that they can to have equality. “The past twenty years have been some of the darkest in women’s lives. With the anti-secularist backlash, the rise of political Islam, and efforts over the past two decades to impose religion on the people thousands have been executed - decapitated or stoned to death- and medieval laws to suppress women have been revived.” A source from http://www.famafrique.org says. This articles goes on to say that the media portrays a different image than how things really are.

    Read More

  • Women's Rights In The Middle East Dbq Analysis

    1107 Words  | 3 Pages

    Women’s rights in the Middle East are being restricted, therefore there are many different reactions. Some people were in favor of women having equal rights while there are some who are against women to have the same rights. Since before times, many countries in the Middle East have been taking women for granted and minimized their rights by telling them they can't do something or selling them as if they were prized. When women were treated as prizes it was a practice in Afghanistan called Ba’ad that used women as the compensation, for example a story of a girl named Sakina. She was a consolation prize so that her brother could marry a woman and the Jirga system told her she had to marry a 80 year old guy when she was like 18. This tells me

    Read More

  • Women's Rights in The Islamic Republic of Iran

    1331 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Iranian Islamic Revolution of 1979 created a lasting affect on the societal role of women through modern day Iran. Women in Iran before the revolution were not entirely treated equal to men, but despite some cultural perceptions of women being inferior to men, they had made progress to become socially equal under the Shah. Several misconceptions and theories have been published and studied to show the inequality of women versus men because of Islam. However, contrasting theories have also been made to show that inequality has little to do with the religion, but instead with the forceful nature upon which it was implemented in the revolution. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the Islamic and political history of Iran and its social implications over Iranian women.

    Read More

  • Women of the Middle East

    771 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Women of the Middle East have played substantial roles for their corresponding countries since the advent of colonialism in the region. Middle Eastern women have worked in all types of fields including medicine, education, agriculture, government, private sector, and even defense. They have kept roofs over their family’s heads while their husbands were away in wars, or even in foreign countries to work in jobs that they could not find in their own countries. The roles of women in the countries of Yemen and Oman are no exception, but while they still find ways to contribute to their country, they care constantly stereotyped, discriminated, and ridiculed by men who are known and unknown to them. This paper will discuss the individual contributions of the women living in Yemen and Oman, and will discuss in further state laws and cultural norms that are affecting the women living in these countries today.

    Read More

  • Women in World War One

    918 Words  | 2 Pages

    This was the start of a new age in the history for women. Before the war a woman’s main job was taking care of her household more like a maid, wife and mother. The men thought that women should not have to work and they should be sheltered and protected. Society also did not like the idea of women working and having positions of power in the workforce but all that change...

    Read More

  • Cultural Conflicts In Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis

    520 Words  | 2 Pages

    The religion of Islam was imposed upon Iranians, whether they liked it or not. Marjane and her classmates “...didn’t like to wear the veil, especially since we didn’t understand why we had to”(Satrapi 3). The young girls were against wearing the veil because they were not practicing

    Read More

  • Women's Roles In The 1920s Essay

    895 Words  | 2 Pages

    During the Great War and the huge amount of men that were deployed created the need to employ women in hospitals, factories, and offices. When the war ended the women would return home or do more traditional jobs such as teaching or shop work. “Also in the 1920s the number of women working raised by fifty percent.” They usually didn’t work if they were married because they were still sticking to the role of being stay at home moms while the husband worked and took care of the family financially. But among the single women there was a huge increase in employment. “Women were still not getting payed near as equally as men and were expected to quit their jobs if they married or pregnant.” Although women were still not getting payed as equally it was still a huge change for the women's

    Read More

  • Why Are women Paid Less than Men? The Gender Gap

    1364 Words  | 3 Pages

    One of the criteria of gender equality is equal pay for men and women. As of 2013, the average salary of women in the world is 38.7% of the average wage of men. At the same time in many countries, the level of education of women is much larger than that of men. This is indicated by the proportion of people with higher education among women and men, by the gender ratio of university students, and by the average duration of study at universities. Therefore, the aim of this work is to study the deep historical causes of gender inequality in society.

    Read More

  • A Woman's Place: The Kite Runner

    940 Words  | 2 Pages

    Print. The. "Society and Norms-Gender Roles: Women." Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. N.p., n.d. Web. The Web.

    Read More

  • Islamic Faith and Culture

    892 Words  | 2 Pages

    In recent modern times, the Islamic faith and culture has been scarred by bad publicity and criticism worldwide concerning terrorism, fanaticism, and the treatment of women. All these issues have existed in most religions throughout time, but the treatment of women is different in which most other cultures and religions have minimized the issues and Islam, under its attempts to also end it, has failed to create a society in which the treatment of women is equal to that of men. The treatment of women, beginning from the time when they are born, to the time of their marriage, to the moment of their death, has not been equal to that of men despite the actions taken to end the injustice.

    Read More

  • Educational Equality: Leadership Role and Involment of Women in Society

    1285 Words  | 3 Pages

    All people deserve the right of education equality no matter gender, race or financial income. According to the daily star, by 2015 only seventy percent of countries will have achieved equality between the sexes in primary education and fifty six percent will have achieved equality in lower secondary education. Education equality is one of the main problems in school systems. Despite progress in recent years girls still suffer a lot of disadvantage in education systems. While gender equality in education remains a crucial issue for many countries women still account for two-thirds of the world’s illiterate population.

    Read More

  • Gender And Gender Inequality In Society

    2390 Words  | 5 Pages

    According to Maguire (1995:1), “The inequality between the sexes is one of the most intractable features of human culture.”Frankly, it is undeniable that gender inequality exists in every part of the world. Macionis (2006:252) also admits that “In most aspects, men are still in charge.” Nowadays, women keep on fighting for their right, urging for equal opportunity and fair treatment. Gender stratification, which is the unequal distribution of wealth, power, and privilege between men and women, seems to be narrowed, but it actually remains its existence to some extends. (Macionis, John. J. 2006: 256)

    Read More

  • The Challenges Faced By Women

    1571 Words  | 4 Pages

    The modern world has resulted in earnings, wages and salaries for the women similar to that of men, but the women are continuously facing inequalities in the work force (Andal 2002). This2 can be attributed to the pre-established notion that women shall not be given access to finance or communication with the world outside of the home which is highly unethical and unfair (Eisenhower, 2002). In the past, they were considered as the underprivileged ones which were not thought of having equal rights but this fact has changed now. The status of women can be explicitly defined as the equality and the freedom of the women.

    Read More

More about Economy and Gender Inequality in Iran

Open Document