Women's Political Participation in Iran

The main purpose of the present paper is to identify the effects of political participation and its effective factors among women in Iran. Secondary analysis of a survey project named “The causes of increase in the number of girls who pass the entrance examination of the universities and its political, social and economic consequences in 2005 " was performed. Results indicate that the average political participation in both groups, women with college education and employed and women without college education and non-employed are very low. Good fitting theoretical model, especially among working women and college groups suggests that political awareness and their attitudes to politics can influence on this group of women’s political participation. Policy attitudes as an intermediate variable relates to political awareness, sense of gender inequality in the field of politics, trust in government institutions and authorities of the country and finally social capital especially community activities. Social empowerment and obstruction should be decreased which combines three elements of awareness, political decisions making ability and organizing. Women’s political participation requires increase in political awareness, political decisions making and political organization of women. Accordingly, education, employment and communal relationships increase can effect on women's political participation enhancement.