Women in post-revolutionary Iran have achieved a more significant role in society despite a decline in their political representation in the highest offices of the land. Meanwhile, their share of the labor market has remained constant. Consider these facts: (a) The percentage of literate women in both urban and rural areas has risen significantly after the revolution while the fertility rate has fallen sharply to 1.9 children per women; (b) 58 percent of students who were admitted to universities in Iran in 2014 were women; (c) The divorce rate has steadily increased since the 1990s; (d) Whereas in 1978, on the eve of the revolution, women held 8 percent of the seats in Parliament, in 2015 this figure has dropped to 3.3 percent.
In order to identify the cluster of factors that can explain these inconsistent developments in post-revolutionary Iran, it is necessary to explore why Iranian women continue to be underrepresented in the labor market and in high-level political posts. Two strands of scholarship have offered explanations for the patterns of gender discrimination present in Iran and other Middle Eastern countries. The “cultural interpretation” maintains that Islamic heritage is one of the most significant obstacles to gender equality in Islamic countries. The “structural interpretation” focuses on the sociopolitical and economic order as the main barriers to women’s advancement in these societies. Both strands of scholarship have shortcomings in explaining why these countries lag behind the rest of the world in regard to gender equality. By scrutinizing the social background of the Iranian female elite, the social and demographic changes that have taken place among Iranian women, and the Iranian women’s share of the labor market, this paper will shed light on the imbalances that have come to characterize the advancement of women in post-revolutionary Iran.
