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Women Education in Islamic and Muslim Majority Countries Islam itself is a religious which calls both male and female to educate. However, many rules and laws in this religion are stated in a way that gives more value to male than female. This has caused in many Islamic countries and Muslim majority countries inequality and gender gap between male and female. These gaps can be seen in different areas of the society. One which is very obvious is in education systems of these countries. Two factors which play a crucial role in women education decision in these countries are income and religion. The majority of these countries are low income countries which do not have enough budgets to spend on women education. Nowadays, women play a significant role in affecting the politics of some of these countries such as Syria and Iran in comparison with countries such as Saudi Arabia which women hardly play any role in development of the society. Evidence has showed that in Islamic countries which women do have opportunity to study it is more likely for them to become successful than men, which corresponds with the traditional belief in these countries that men are superior to women. This is due to the fact that in these male dominated societies women have to put a lot more effort in order to be in a position almost equal to men.

Family and marital issues

As women become more educated they get married later and bring less children on average. This concerns some of Islamic beliefs which give greatest values to family and children. Also liberated women do not go under different Islamic policy such as believing the husband has the complete authority over his wife. This has raised the number of divorce in these countries however the number of forced marriages in many of these countries has dropped, because educated women can enter work force and become economically independent.

Iran

University in Iran.

Iran Is an Islamic country where education has great importance. It was one of the first countries in Middle East which enabled women to study in university. The amount of money spend on education is much higher than other developing countries. Women make up about 63% of the universities, which is one of the highest ratios among the world. This contrast with the cultural belief which is men is superior to women. However, only 27% of working field is made up of women. The higher number of women having a degree comparing to their male partner has caused social issues in this country. Recently, new laws have been established which allows more male to enter university to limit the number of women in university. In laws are in contrast with human rights and gender equlity.

Impact of Islamisation on Universities

After a speech on Isamisation by the supreme leader Ali Khamenei, there were many restrictions on women education in Iran. During the Green Movement women played a significant role in protests and asking for freedom. Many activists rose from women in the field of humanitarian and sociology. There were limitations on allowing women to study these subjects. Many post secondary institutions limit the number of female students “More than 30 universities have introduced new rules banning female students from almost 80 different degree courses” . Also the new policies based on the supreme leaders’ speech stopped family planning classes for female students.

Social Issues Caused in Iran

In recent years the numbers of couples separation and divorce in Iran has increased significantly and these numbers are higher in among well educated couples. Divorce contradicts with the Islamic belief on marriage in this country. The higher number of women educated in Iran, has shifted the social appearance of the society. Modern educated women with higher degree than their husband do not accept the cultural traditions which are mostly male dominated and patriarchal.

Iraq

History

Women Education in Iraq started in early 19th century. The first secondary school for girls opened in 1929. Till 1960 education was only available for women coming from wealthier and higher class families and the number of female illiterate was twice of male. After 1974 education became free as well as book and other fees for women so more girls from other class of the society were able to go to university. Such that in 1980, out of 762 schools 416 schools were for female which shows a huge progress with 1965 policies which only 12% of schools belonged to women. This not only decreased the number of female illiterate it also made women to enter the work field. Based on Journal of peace studies “Women in 1980s accounted for 46 per cent of all teachers, 29 per cent of all physicians, 46 per cent of all dentists, 70 per cent of all pharmacists, 15 per cent of all Accountants, 14 per cent of all factory workers and 16 per cent of all civil servants. A main characteristic of Iraq educational system was that it was very secular, which enabled women to study in coeducational institutes.

Iraq Medical Students.

Women education After US-led coalition invasion of Iraq

During 1993 to present, the Iraq invasion of Kuwait as well as the US invasion in Iraq has caused number of women dropping out of school to increase. Number of illiterate women has also increased during this period. Although there is no accurate number on girls attendance in Iraq, it has been estimated that the number of girls in each grade drops every year and for instance17% of Iraqi girls going from grade one to grade two drop out of school. The current unstable society has caused many girls to attend schools irregularly and dropout after a while.

Syria

Before the recent violence caused by Syrian Civil War, Syrian women were very liberated and had access to well education. After the 2011 catastrophe both male and female face difficulty in this country. “nearly 40 percent of Syrian youth ages 15 to 24 dropped out of school before the ninth grade” . Women are more vulnerable to this crisis and the number of unemployment after this accident raised more among female citizens.

Turkey

Illiteracy among women is very high in Turkey, although the economic in this country is rapidly growing the number of women attending school is relatively low and about 20.4 percent of women are illiterate based on 2006 statistics. Gender inequality is a very common issue in this country and is seen between female and male students. Adult literacy among women in rural and urban areas is 69.2 and 83.2 percent respectively, and among men its 91 and 96 respectively. This shows a gender gap of 15 percent. According to statistics, the number of years women receive education in world went from 4.31 in 1960 and 6.13 in 2000, however in Turkey it went from 1.05 years in 1960 to 3.95 years in 2000. This shows that Turkey is far behind world standards. Many girls cannot attend school due to their family low income especially higher education since primary education is subsidized, and about 36% of female students drop out of school after primary education.

Further reading

• Efrati Noga, “Women in Iraq” (Columbia University Press, 2012).
• Elizabeth M. King, M. Anne Hill, "Women's Education in Developing Countries"