A Comparative Study of the Social Status of Women in the States of the Past two Decades

Women are one of the most important social forces and interconnected nature of the political and social has made them to engage in politics. In Iran, after the Islamic Revolution, different states have made efforts to solve women's socio-cultural problems. This article seeks to examine the social status of women in employment and unemployment, taking governmental administrative position, education, and being head of households from the fifth to the eleventh states in the Islamic Republic of Iran. To achieve this goal, secondary analysis was used and the following results were obtained: The presence of women in governmental administrative position has a rising trend in two decades, but in the basic and middle levels of management. The employment status of women in the 70's was relatively better than the 80's and the unemployment rate for women has been increasing since the 80's. On the other hand the employment and education of women did not rise harmoniously. Education and employment of women was better in the second term of President Khatami and the first term of President Ahmadinejad compared to the periods before and after. Prior to this period, the rate of employment passed education rate, but in the second term of Ahmadinejad until Rouhani's state this has reversed and education has passed employment. In the field of household, the percentage of female-headed households has raised from 7.5 percent in the first state of Hashemi Rafsanjani to 12.9 percent in the administration of Rouhani. During this period the identity of the female-headed households has changed in a way that single and divorced women mainly comprise female-headed households.