Iran – Draft Law Considered to Limit University Presence of Increasing Number of Women Students

Tehran, 26 Jan. (AKI) – The increasing number of women in Iranian
universities is worrying Iran’s authorities and parliament is discussing a draft
law to limit access to female students. Today, 65 percent of university students
in Iran are women. The MPs with the ultra conservative Osulgarayan (loyal to
principles) political faction of Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejadhas
announced it will soon present the bill to “rebalance the university’s
population,” claiming that the large number of women attending secondary
education is undermining Iranian society.

Osulgarayan MPs in fact claim
that the rise of women graduates has contributed to raise the number of divorces
in Iran.

“Once they get a degree, many young women refuse to stay home
and take care of their husband and children and want to work, which is mainly
why so many marriages end,” said this week Rad Ali Tahmasebi, one of the
lawmakers who drafted the bill.

Tahmasebi also blamed the increase in the
average marrying age of women on university attendance, noting that this too was
a “threat for an Islamic society such as Iran’s.”

In the previous
reformist legislature prior to the election in June 2005 of Ahmadinejad, a
similar proposal by conservative MPs had been blocked by the then majority
coalition.