Women graduates challenge Iran

BBC NEWS

"The number of women graduating from Iran's universities is overtaking the number of men, promising a change in the job market and, with it, profound social change.



Single man in a class room, Azad University
In some subjects 70% of Iran's graduates are women

Twenty postgraduate students are sitting in a plush modern classroom listening to a lecture on environmental management at the Islamic Azad University - a private institution with 1.6 million students across Iran."

Alarm

But in some areas the larger number of women than men is beginning to alarm the authorities.

Historic opportunity'

"Before the revolution everybody supposed that if you wanted to be a rich person with a good standard of living you needed to be educated," explains journalist and social commentator Sayed Laylaz.

Marriage or a career

Another social change is that young women who do have careers are now beginning to think twice about getting married. Especially as under Iranian law a woman needs her husband's permission to go to work.