DID THE RECENT COMMITMENT TO HIGHER EDUCATION BY IRANIAN YOUNG WOMEN AFFECT THE MALE-FEMALE RATIOS AT UNIVERSITIES IN IRAN?

Farrokh Safavi Western Washington University

Tehran University 

ABSTRACT

By the middle of the 1st decade of the 21st century, the proportion of Iranian women at public universities surpassed that of their male counterparts by a ratio of 3:2. This study investigates the difference in the male-female ratios of students pursuing higher education at five schools of Tehran University in the Islamic Republic of Iran during the period 1999-2010. These schools are foreign languages, Sciences, Management, Engineering, and Veterinary. Utilizing the enrolment data during each academic year, this study revealed that the ratio of the surveyed Iranian women pursuing higher education was moved from a male dominance to female dominance in four of the five schools