Study of CyberSpace Development Impact on Women Participation in Iran’s Economy (A Case on Women’s employment and Fertility Rate)

Iran has been increasingly affected by the process of globalization and developments of new technologies in recent decades. In the course of these influences, changes in the lifestyles of the people and other dimensions of their lives have been created.  The reduction of gender gap, the increase of the rate of women’s participation, and the reduction of fertility rates, etc. can be considered as its consequences. Therefore, the study of this relationship of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and its changes and severity for future policies can be very important, including the link between fertility and ICT and employment and ICT. This study examines the cyberspace deployment effect on women’s employment and fertility rate in Iran’s economy. Hence, the data of 30 provinces in the period of 1387-1393 applying pooled-panel data within the framework of simultaneous equations using two-stage least squares were analysed. The results revealed that there is a reverse relationship between fertility rate and women’s labor force participation rate and by increasing the ICT development index, women’s labor force participation rate increases. But cyberspace development, contrary to the expectations, has had a positive and significant effect on the fertility rate. In determining this, one can refer to the social conditions governing the country and the ICT capabilities in facilitating child-rearing.