The Feminization of Higher Education in Iran: Contradictions and Complexities

Four decades after the Cultural Revolution in Iran in June 1980, which marked the beginning of the Islamization of education, women make up about half of the student population in universities, by unexpectedly upsetting the gender balance in their favor. To many, this is an unexpected result because Islamization equated to a decline - though not a complete obstacle - to the socio-economic participation of women, especially in education and the labor market. But in Iran, today, educating women beyond high school is not a marginal phenomenon and has become the norm, as in many countries.

Therefore, many academics in their writings have tried to explain the complexities and contradictions of the feminization of higher education in Iran. The present article intends to help better understand this phenomenon by a critical review of this literature. The first part of the article is devoted to a statistical study of women's enrollment in universities since the 1970s, as well as their more or less limited participation in the labor market. The purpose of this section is to quantify the changes of the last five decades and the link between women's higher education, on the one hand, and the male-dominated labor market, on the other. A statistical study of the evolution of women's education will be a prelude to a critical review of the existing literature on the status of women in higher education and to suggest points that can help make the discussion more productive.

Critical review of the literature focuses on two categories of research on higher education: those that examine women's motivations, expectations, and decisions to pursue education after high school, and those that examine the Islamization analysis of (higher) education. Part of the structure and process of nation-building and its impact on women's development are concerned.

We emphasize that comprehensive analysis در must also look at the context (context) of the globalized world in a broader view of government and society. A world that affects both the formation of the motivation of Iranian women to pursue higher education and its Islamization. Our argument is that the motivations of Iranian women are intricately linked to the "spirit of time" (Hegel, 2012), which means increased awareness and seeking justice, and are influenced by what is happening in the world through a variety of media. The plan to Islamize education, which has targeted the structure and content of the educational system since the Cultural Revolution in 1980, can also be considered in connection with increasing gender awareness, and from this perspective has certain contradictions and complexities.