Proceedings of the 3rd European Conference on Intellectual Capital

Marziye Ehrami et al.
1. Creation <strong>of</strong> a favorable environment for <strong>the</strong> woman's personality to grow and <strong>the</strong> restoration <strong>of</strong>
her rights, both materially and intellectually;
2. Protection <strong>of</strong> mo<strong>the</strong>rs, particularly during pregnancy and child upbringing, and protection <strong>of</strong>
orphans and unguarded children.
3. Establishing competent courts to protect and support <strong>the</strong> family;
4. Support for divorced women and women without a guardian aged and elderly
5. Awarding guardianship <strong>of</strong> children to competent mo<strong>the</strong>rs, in order to protect <strong>the</strong> interests <strong>of</strong>
children, in <strong>the</strong> absence <strong>of</strong> a legal guardian.
In addition to <strong>the</strong> mentioned article which relates directly to <strong>the</strong> women’s rights, section 8 <strong>of</strong> Article 3
<strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Constitution points to public participation in determining political, economic, social and cultural
future without any discrimination between men and women. Besides, according to Article 20, all
citizens <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> country, both men and women, equally enjoy law protection. This article states that all
people have political, economic, social, and cultural rights, in conformity with Islamic criteria.
2.1 Present situation <strong>of</strong> women in <strong>the</strong> field <strong>of</strong> knowledge
It has been about a century since women's formal education started in Iran and almost seventy years
since Iranian women took part in higher education for <strong>the</strong> first time. Statistics show that from among
598,790 admitted students in different academic levels in 2008-2009, 324,173 were women and
274,617 were men. And <strong>of</strong> course <strong>the</strong>re is an increasing trend for <strong>the</strong> number <strong>of</strong> women studying at
Iranian universities in recent years. Meanwhile, <strong>the</strong> deficiency <strong>of</strong> employment rates <strong>of</strong> women
compared with men represents a kind <strong>of</strong> inequality in job distribution and serious obstacles in <strong>the</strong> way
<strong>of</strong> employment <strong>of</strong> women. Considering <strong>the</strong> situation <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> current job market in Iran, Iranian women
are far away from desirable situation. Currently, women's participation rate in jobs is about eleven
percent and <strong>the</strong>ir unemployment rate is about twenty percent. Of <strong>the</strong> country's active population, 85
percent <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> active forces are men and only 15 percent are women. These statistics, however, are
quite different in developed countries. In some countries, about fifty percent <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> works are done by
<strong>the</strong> women and in some developing countries, in <strong>the</strong> agricultural sector, 67 percent <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> workforce is
devoted to women; also 55 percent <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> total world foods are produced by <strong>the</strong> women. In <strong>the</strong> East
Asian countries, which hold an export record in textiles and household appliances, women constitute
74 percent <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> workforce.
Table 1: Statistics on <strong>the</strong> number <strong>of</strong> educated women (www.msrt.ir)
total
525316
73474
598790
Total
man
238200
36417
274617
woman
287116
37057
324173
total
7321
96
7417
Specialized
PhD
man
4520
87
4607
woman
2801
9
2810
total
6062
-
6062
Pr<strong>of</strong>essional
Doctorate
man
2488
-
2488
woman
3574
-
3574
total
40967
1595
42562
132
MA
man
21441
1064
22505
woman
19526
531
20057
total
350449
43841
394290
BA
man
134866
21928
156794
woman
215583
21913
237496
total
120517
27942
148459
Undergraduate man
74885
13338
88223
woman
45632
14604
60236
Kind <strong>of</strong> center
State
Private
Total