Clarifying the Role of Women in Iran's Administrative System in Reza Shah Era (1925-1941)

Concentrative plans, magisterial modernization, national unification and regime’s efforts to form a unified government, during the reign of Reza Shah, as the key characteristics of this era, caused so many reforms, e.g. in Iran’s administrative system. Along with expansion of bureaucratic procedures, women were also employed and thereby a new class, the female employees, has been gradually created. Some programs, such as unveiling, expanding education, especially for women, had a great influence on increasing the number of female employees. This was one of the main features of administrative system in the era, which is the problem we are going to shed light on. Through a descriptive-analytic method and based on documentaries and library sources, we shall study the status of women in administrative system during the reign of Reza Shah. As a result, we can claim that in this era, for the first time, and despite to all their legal and civil failures, women of course less than men, could contribute in Iran’s bureaucratic system. However, some factors, e.g. cultural structure of the society and government’s discrimination in paying attention to different cities, eventually caused that their employment was confined mainly to Tehran and in modern educational system.