(compared to 20.8 in the previous Persian year) while female unemployment was 38.6% of the population (compared to 40.4% the previous Persian year).13 B. Right to Education The Constitution of the Islamic Republic (Article 30 and Note 7 of Article 43) requires the government to provide free education to everyone and to use science and technology to enhance the capabilities of individuals.14 None of the relevant articles have explicitly excluded any part of society, whether on the basis of gender, religion, race or ethnicity. In a decree prepared and approved by the Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution15 in 2013 on the "Islamization of Universities" (Strategic Guide for Islamization) to be implemented by all educational entities, called for "Institutionalizing the culture of chastity and veil (hijab), organizing the public space of universities and preserving the affairs of the university scientific environment." Under the same note (Note 14.6), it mandates all educational institutions to "review and improve the design of spaces and optimize university services in order to reduce unnecessary mixing of girls and boys."16 In higher education regulations in Iran, academic specializations are classified by gender. For this reason, there are some specializations in which women are not allowed to study/enroll. For example, some engineering majors are dedicated only to men and some are dedicated to only women. Reports from 2014 show how Iranian women were excluded from major such as Biosystem Mechanical Engineering and even Islamic Theology majors.17 In 1983, gender segregation policies were introduced in the Iranian education system that implemented quotas and resulted in the exclusion of women from 91 out of the 169 available academic specializations at the time.18 Despite the lifting of these policies in 1993, they were reintroduced in 2012 with women being excluded from 77 academic specializations in 36 universities.19 Majors that are known to have been banned for women include computer science, industrial engineering, chemical engineering, mechanical engineering and material engineering at Arak University. Additionally, natural resources engineering, forestry and mining engineering at Tehran university; Political science, accounting, business administration, public administration, mechanical engineering, and civil engineering at Esfahan University and 14 social sciences 13 Statistics Center of Iran https://www.amar.org.ir/Portals/1/releases/lfs/LFS_1397.pdf https://www.wipo.int/edocs/lexdocs/laws/en/ir/ir001en.pdf 15 A body of the government based in Qoms, in charge of ensuring that education and culture in Iran follow Islamic guidelines. 16 https://sccr.ir/pro/1950/%D9%85%D8%B5%D9%88%D8%A8%D9%87-%D8%B3%D9%86%D8%AF%D8%AF%D8%A7%D9%86%D8%B4%DA%AF%D8%A7%D9%87%D8%A7%D8%B3%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%85%DB%8C 17 Etemad Newspaper, ‘University Gender Quotas Less Aggressive,’ 9 August 2014, https://bit.ly/316XR9H 18 Fathi, M., ‘Becoming a woman doctor in Iran: The formation of classed and gendered selves’, Gender and Education30, 1, 2018, pp.59-73. 19 Mehr News Agency, ‘Hazf paziresh-e-dokhtaran az 77 reshthe 36 daneshgah/ mohanedsi rekorddar-e-hazf [Women Eliminated From 77 Fields in 36 Universities/Engineering Fields Hold Record for Elimination of Women],’ 6 August 2012, https://bit.ly/2YfDM44. 14 3

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