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Introduction
While the majority of the world has advanced to create equal rights for men and women, Iran has not. The Iranian government has ranked men superior to women in all aspects of life including society, law, and the home. However, over the past several years advancements have been made prompted by the Islamic Revolution of 1979, in improving women rights.

Segregation at School
At first, in order to separate females and males at school, the country built schools and universities strictly for each gender. In July of 2011, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad declared that students at Iranian Universities should no longer be segregated. While this was a step towards complete school desegregation, many restrictions are still present. Over thirty universities have banned women from around eighty majors. These majors range from computer science and nuclear physics to English literature and business. According to Adolfazl Hasani, a senior Iranian official, “some fields are not very suitable for women’s nature”. The government is placing these restrictions to “restrict women’s access to education…and to return them to the home”.

Impacts of Women’s Education
From education women are increasingly learning about the possibility of women having equal rights as men. In the past several years there has been a rapid increase in the number of female students attending Iranian universities. In 1990 38% of university students were female compared to 60% in 2011. This is due to both universities beginning to accept more female students and the growing interest in women to receive college education. In school, women are learning how important it is for them to stand up for their rights, withhold a job, and be an equal to their husbands. School is not the only source of education for women. Due to the increase in Internet use and the popularity of satellite television, women are learning that it is possible to be treated equal to a man. With these insights into western life, Iranian women see other women holding high-ranking jobs, receiving a college education, and standing up to their husbands. Western television shows have also shown divorce as an accepted way to end a marriage. Many Iranian women are placed into arranged marriages, against their will, and they are never given an opportunity to escape. Today women can be legally forced into marriage at the young age of thirteen. In some cases women have committed suicide because they saw death as their only way to escape their marriage. If they were to divorce, it was seen as a disgrace to their family. But, with the growing increase of education on western culture, divorce is not as condemned as in previous years. Divorce rates have increased 135% in the past fifteen years as women are growing the confidence to stand up against their spouse and fight for the custody of their children, as divorce is slowly becoming a part of society.

Single Women
Single women are put under scrutiny in the Iranian society, as marriage at a young age is the custom and status quo. Today an increasing number of women have put off marriage to seek a higher education and focus on their career. Some women who live alone wear a fake wedding ring to avoid scrutiny from the government and society. The Iranian government does not approve this trend of women living on their own. In 2006 the Iranian government introduced a campaigned to promote inexpensive and quick marriages. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s government has also organized mass weddings to create cheap marriages. However, both of these strategies have not made an impact as the number of independent women continues to increase.

Dress Code
In Iran there is a strictly enforced dress code for women. In public, women must always be wearing dark, loose clothing that covers their entire body. A scarf must always cover a woman’s head and a woman who refuses to do so may be prosecuted, jailed, and given up to eighty lashes. This dress code is an Islamic tradition embedded in Iranian laws. The hijab, the headscarf, is required for Muslim women. While men also have a dress code it is much less restrictive. Shorts are the only article of clothing that men are prohibited to wear.

Remaining Inequalities
While many improvements have been made in the fight for equal rights between women and men, the Iranian government continues to place limits on women. Men can prohibit their wives from working outside of the home preventing them for any chance they may have at a high education and career. Those who are not and apply for a college education, are hugely restricted by the school in which major they are or are not allowed to take. By law, women may only inherit half the number of their parents shares compared to their male siblings. On top of that in court a woman’s testimony is only worth half of what a man’s is. The government also mandates a woman’s dress code. The Iranian government dictates what women are allowed to study, wear, and whom they are allowed to marry.