A Comparative Study of Women Development Indices in Iran and Its Neighboring Countries

In this paper, human development with emphasis on gender-related adjusted index has been comparatively examined in Iran and its neighboring countries. The research methodology is a comparative one, and the data was collected through documents and the 2013 Human Development Report by the United Nations. The findings reveal that considering women development indices, Iran stands in the lower ranks of the list of countries with high human development. However, the components of this index indicate that Iran has climbed upthe averagevaluesof human development index in the world and the countries with high human developmentin case of women’s health, hygiene and education development indices. Nonetheless, indices like women cooperation in the parliament and business market are not necessarily appropriate for determining women development in a country and more effective indices for evaluating political and economic development of women should be taken into consideration.