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For decades, more women than men have been studying at Iran’s universities. They often pay a high price for it – and end up with no prospects. This is another reason why women play a key role in the current protests.
“Women, life, freedom” – the slogan of the Iranian protests resounds particularly angrily at Iran’s universities. Students have been demonstrating for weeks – among other things against the rigid regulations on the separation of men and women on campus. A joint picnic, such as that recently held by students on the campus of Sharif University in Tehran, is already an enormous risk. Journalist Natalie Amiri reports on Twitter:
Female students in particular play a special role in the current protests: an academic education contradicts the role model that the Iranian government envisages for them. Admission to a university is sometimes made very difficult for them. Nevertheless, since the late 1990s, the proportion of female students has outnumbered male students; today it is a good 60 percent.
Study for a little freedom
“There is almost nothing else that Iranian girls and young women can do to find their own way,” says Encieh Erfani, a 40-year-old astrophysicist who just a few weeks ago resigned from her position at an Iranian university .
When young Iranian women go to university, possibly moving to another city, for many it is the first time that they have been outside of family control for a long period of time. A university degree – so the hope of many – brings a certain financial and family independence, better chances of finding a job, more respect from society, which discriminates against and patronizes women in many respects.
disappointed hopes
But the reality is different: women are already affected by disadvantages and harassment during their studies. “I myself know of several cases of sexual assault at my university,” says astrophysicist Encieh Erfani. “But there were no confidants for such cases. If those affected report the incident, they risk losing their place at the university.”
The students are constantly monitored to see whether they are following the dress code, who they are talking to, and whether they are critical in class. “This prevents women from being able to freely exchange ideas and discuss science and new ideas,” says archaeologist Leila Paoli-Yazdi bitterly.
Legend:
The campus of Sharif University of Technology in Tehran.
Wikipedia/flickr/Masoud K
Measured against the population, there are more universities in Iran than in almost any other country. Depending on how you count, there are more than 600 today – compared to just under two dozen just before the Islamic Revolution of 1979.
The number of students has increased almost twenty-fold over the past 40 years. Today about 3.2 million people study in Iran. Iran’s higher education landscape includes internationally renowned universities such as the Sharif University of Technology. In order to be able to study there, Iranians have to pass a demanding entrance exam.
There are also numerous other institutions such as the private Islamic Azaad Universities or the Payame Noor University, which only offers online courses and has a reputation for being very easy to award a university degree.
The number of female students exceeded that of male students for the first time in 1999. After the Islamic Revolution, almost half of the fields of study for women were banned, for example veterinary medicine, agricultural sciences or geology. However, this also gave numerous universities the reputation of teaching according to the ideas of the Islamic government. This gave young women from religious families the opportunity to study.
By the mid-1990s, political women’s organizations had managed to lift almost all restrictions on female students. However, the Iranian government keeps introducing maximum quotas to limit the proportion of women in prestigious subjects such as computer science, engineering or political science.
Conclusion – what then?
Even with a university degree, the young women have poor prospects of finding a job. “Women don’t even make up 20 percent of the country’s economic output,” says Leila Papoli-Yazdi, who researches discrimination and poverty. As a result, for many well-educated Iranian women there are only two options: get married and lead a life as a wife and mother – or leave the country if you can afford it.
Iran’s universities are still a place where ideas emerge that challenge the status quo.
Only a fraction find a job in industry or administration – but the country can hardly offer many prospects. Resentment is a key driver behind the current protests, says Roja Fazaeli, Associate Professor of Islamic Civilizations. “Because Iran’s universities are still a place where ideas emerge that question the status quo.” The status quo in this case is: the Iranian regime.