More than 30 universities have introduced new rules banning female students from almost 80 different degree courses.
These include a bewildering variety of subjects from engineering, nuclear physics and computer science, to English literature,
archaeology and business.
No official reason has been given for the move, but campaigners, including Nobel Prize winning lawyer Shirin Ebadi, allege it is
part of a deliberate policy by the authorities to exclude women from education.
"The Iranian government is using various initiatives… to restrict women's access to education, to stop them being active in society,
and to return them to the home," she told the BBC.
The gap between the numbers of male and female students has gradually narrowed. In 2001 women outnumbered men for the first time and
they now make up more than 60% of the overall student body.
Year-on-year more Iranian women than men are applying for university places, motivated some say by the chance to live a more
independent life, to have a career and to escape the pressure from parents to stay at home and to get married.
"The women's movement has been challenging Iran's male-dominated establishment for several years," says Saeed Moidfar, a retired
sociology professor from Tehran.
"Traditional politicians now see educated and powerful women as a threat."
In August 2012 Ayatollah Khamenei made another widely-discussed speech calling for Iranians to return to traditional values and to
have more children.
"People are more educated now and they are more concerned about the size of their families," says Saeed Moidfar. "I doubt that the
government plans will change anything."
However, since the speech there have been reports of cutbacks in family planning programmes, and in sex education classes at
universities.
//BBC
These include a bewildering variety of subjects from engineering, nuclear physics and computer science, to English literature,
archaeology and business.
No official reason has been given for the move, but campaigners, including Nobel Prize winning lawyer Shirin Ebadi, allege it is
part of a deliberate policy by the authorities to exclude women from education.
"The Iranian government is using various initiatives… to restrict women's access to education, to stop them being active in society,
and to return them to the home," she told the BBC.
The gap between the numbers of male and female students has gradually narrowed. In 2001 women outnumbered men for the first time and
they now make up more than 60% of the overall student body.
Year-on-year more Iranian women than men are applying for university places, motivated some say by the chance to live a more
independent life, to have a career and to escape the pressure from parents to stay at home and to get married.
"The women's movement has been challenging Iran's male-dominated establishment for several years," says Saeed Moidfar, a retired
sociology professor from Tehran.
"Traditional politicians now see educated and powerful women as a threat."
In August 2012 Ayatollah Khamenei made another widely-discussed speech calling for Iranians to return to traditional values and to
have more children.
"People are more educated now and they are more concerned about the size of their families," says Saeed Moidfar. "I doubt that the
government plans will change anything."
However, since the speech there have been reports of cutbacks in family planning programmes, and in sex education classes at
universities.
//BBC
