Why does Iran have such a high female education level?
Why does Iran have such a high female education level? According to research done by top coed schools in India, Iran has one of the highest education levels for young girls in the Middle East. In fact, 57 percent of Iranian women are literate, compared to 43 percent of men.
Women account for 45 percent of Iranian university students. What’s surprising is that Iran’s Ministry of Education states that gender equality in education is one of its main goals. So we have a lot to learn from Iran.
As a small country, it has come out to be one of the most educated lots in the world, but the level of destruction is another aspect faced by the people of Iran which is quite devastating.
Universal public education
What accounts for this surprising shift? The answer may be as simple as economics. Iran has one of the highest literacy levels in the region, with more than 90% of its citizen’s age 15 and over being able to read and write.
The primary reason for this high literacy rate is universal public education for all citizens, which includes both boys and girls. This means that regardless of their gender, all children are encouraged to attend school from a young age.
According to research done by a top international schools in India, Iran ranks as having a 99% literacy level among its 15–24-year-old population, a figure higher than every European country except Iceland and Denmark.
This high level of literacy has led to a large number of independent working women with families and jobs. This is a trend that is seen across all parts of the world where female education rates are high such as South Korea, Canada, Japan, and Sweden. These same countries also have low fertility rates which can contribute to their lower birth rates. It is estimated that over half of all university students in Iran are single and childless.
“Educational revolution” in Iran
To understand this phenomenon, one must first look back at Iran’s turbulent history. In 1979, when the Islamic Revolution took place and Ayatollah Khomeini came to power, he imposed strict traditional Islamic rules on Iranian society and culture. Women were forced to wear headscarves and were barred by law from entering certain universities and holding certain jobs deemed inappropriate for women. While these laws have been relaxed over time, it is still illegal for Iranian women to marry non-Iranian men (and vice versa).
The literacy rate of women has been rising continuously
The literacy rate for women in Iran is 91.2%, which is the 8th highest in the world. Only two other countries (the Maldives and Sri Lanka) have a higher female literacy rate.
The Iran National Competitiveness Report 2013, published by the Iran Industrial Management Company (INCO) — a member of the Ministry of Industries, Mining, and Trade — shows that Iran has the highest female-to-male ratio in tertiary education among all Muslim countries in the world. The report cites a UNESCO Institute for Statistics study that shows that women accounted for 60% of university students in 2010.
Conclusion
An educated woman is less likely to get raped, is less likely to be susceptible to violent measures or propaganda, is more likely to work out of the home and produce better-paying jobs, and will likely be less susceptible to depression and other mental illnesses. Iran has done a real service to their nation by giving women nearly full equality under the law.
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