Iran bans women from 70 university degree courses

[M Ali Khan]

like I said, chahey Shia ho ya Sunni - MULLAH MULLAH HOTA HAI!

Anger as Iran bans women from universities

Female students in Iran have been barred from more than 70 university degree courses in an officially-approved act of sex-discrimination which critics say is aimed at defeating the fight for equal women's rights.

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Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi said the real agenda was to reduce the proportion of female students to below 50% Photo: GETTY


By Robert Tait

3:17PM BST 20 Aug 2012


In a move that has prompted a demand for a UN investigation by Iran's most celebrated human rights campaigner, the Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi, 36 universities have announced that 77 BA and BSc courses in the coming academic year will be "single gender" and effectively exclusive to men.


It follows years in which Iranian women students have outperformed men, a trend at odds with the traditional male-dominated outlook of the country's religious leaders. Women outnumbered men by three to two in passing this year's university entrance exam.


Senior clerics in Iran's theocratic regime have become concerned about the social side-effects of rising educational standards among women, including declining birth and marriage rates.


Under the new policy, women undergraduates will be excluded from a broad range of studies in some of the country's leading institutions, including English literature, English translation, hotel management, archaeology, nuclear physics, computer science, electrical engineering, industrial engineering and business management.


The Oil Industry University, which has several campuses across the country, says it will no longer accept female students at all, citing a lack of employer demand. Isfahan University provided a similar rationale for excluding women from its mining engineering degree, claiming 98% of female graduates ended up jobless.


Writing to Ban Ki Moon, the UN secretary general, and Navi Pillay, the high commissioner for human rights, Mrs Ebadi, a human rights lawyer exiled in the UK, said the real agenda was to reduce the proportion of female students to below 50% – from around 65% at present – thereby weakening the Iranian feminist movement in its campaign against discriminatory Islamic laws.


"[It] is part of the recent policy of the Islamic Republic, which tries to return women to the private domain inside the home as it cannot tolerate their passionate presence in the public arena," says the letter, which was also sent to Ahmad Shaheed, the UN's special rapporteur for human rights in Iran. "The aim is that women will give up their opposition and demands for their own rights."


The new policy has also been criticised by Iranian parliamentarians, who summoned the deputy science and higher education minister to explain.


However, the science and higher education minister, Kamran Daneshjoo, dismissed the controversy, saying that 90% of degrees remain open to both sexes and that single-gender courses were needed to create "balance".


Iran has highest ratio of female to male undergraduates in the world, according to UNESCO. Female students have become prominent in traditionally male-dominated courses like applied physics and some engineering disciplines.


Sociologists have credited women's growing academic success to the increased willingness of religiously-conservative families to send their daughters to university after the 1979 Islamic revolution.

The relative decline in the male student population has been attributed to the desire of young Iranian men to "get rich quick" without going to university.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wor...ger-as-Iran-bans-women-from-universities.html

 

[M Ali Khan]

Bill Gates recalls once being invited to speak in Saudi Arabia and finding himself facing a segregated audience. Four-fifths of the listeners were men, on the left. The remaining one-fifth were women, all covered in black cloaks and veils, on the right. A partition separated the two groups.

Toward the end, in the question-and-answer session, a member of the audience noted that Saudi Arabia aimed to be one of the Top 10 countries in the world in technology by 2010 and asked if that was realistic.

“Well, if you’re not fully utilizing half the talent in the country,” Gates said, “you’re not going to get too close to the Top 10.” The small group on the right erupted in wild cheering.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/27/AR2007012700951.html

 

[Karwa_Karela]

I have no doubt that it would be 80% propaganda & 20% reality when its coming out of a western author. And like us they also have a breed that is always wafadar to the west and they don’t let any stone unturned while showing their faithfulness to their lords, they get recognition in form of donations & awards.

of course if it comes under the 20% reality it is a great under utilization of human resources, but what i have seen even in Pakistan, gals become docs, engrs, managers then they get married and sweep their education under the rug, there shouid be a law for a minimum period of job after getting the degree, if someone is not completing that period without any valid reason, they should pay back the govt money spent on their education.

And its really surprising to see the number of courses offered in unis at Iran, if 70 have been banned for women then there must around 250 to 300 type of courses in all, now this is impressive.

 

[M Ali Khan]

Senior clerics in Iran's theocratic regime have become concerned about the social side-effects of rising educational standards among women, including declining birth and marriage rates.

The irony is, these very maulana hazraat helped in LOWERING the insanely high birth rates of Iran over the last 20-30 years through mandatory contraception classes required for couples before marriage.

http://www.aina.org/news/20120723194838.htm

TEHRAN -- Since the 1980s, Iran has experienced the largest and fastest drop in fertility ever recorded -- from about seven births per woman to fewer than two today.


"It confounded all conventional wisdom that it could happen in one of the world's few Islamic republics," said Jalal Abbasi-Shavazi, a demographer at the University of Tehran.


It happened largely because of the Islamic government.


In the late 1980s, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Iran's supreme leader, issued fatwas making birth control widely available and acceptable to conservative Muslims.


Until then, Khomeini had helped foster a baby boom to produce soldiers for the war against Iraq. After the war, he was persuaded that the economy could no longer support a rapidly growing population.


Under the new decrees, contraceptives could be obtained free at government clinics, including thousands of new rural health centers. Health workers promoted contraception as a way to leave more time between births and help reduce maternal and child mortality. Couples intending to marry were required to receive counseling in family planning.


The birthrate plunged, helping to usher in social changes, particularly in the role of women.


With smaller families, parents could invest more in their children's education, and the idea caught on even in rural areas.


At the same time, educational opportunities were opening up for girls. After the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Khomeini had resegregated schools by gender in keeping with his strict interpretation of Islam.


One result was that even the most conservative families could send girls to school without worrying that family honor would be tarnished by allowing their daughters to mix with males.


As women became better educated, their influence within the family grew.


Without intending to, Iran's clerical leadership helped to foster "the empowerment of Iranian women," said Djavad Salehi-Isfahani, an Iran expert at Virginia Tech. "The mullahs may be winning the battle on the streets, but women are winning the battle inside the family."


Iranian woman have fewer legal rights than men and are limited in which jobs they can hold and what they can wear. But more of them are attending universities and postponing childbirth. In public universities, female students now outnumber males 65% to 35%, leading to calls in parliament for affirmative action for men.


President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, however, has sought to reverse the trend toward smaller families. Doubling the country's population of 75 million would enable Iran to threaten the West, he said.


He has denounced the contraceptive program as "a prescription for extinction," called on Iranian girls to marry no later than 16 or 17 and offered bonuses of more than $950 for each child. So far, he has been widely ignored.


"Iranian women are not going back," said Sussan Tahmasebi, an Iranian women's rights leader now living in the United States.


The changes are reinforced every day in health centers throughout the country. At a center in Tehran recently, a procession of brides-to-be, some covered head to toe in black chadors, filed into a large, well-lighted room with their bearded bridegrooms.


Some in the group stole glances at the small packages pinned to a green bulletin board -- samples of condoms, birth control pills and intrauterine devices.


They had all filled out forms and provided blood and urine samples for the medical screenings required for marriage. All that was left was to sit through this hourlong class on family planning. "Our aim is to help you know how to avoid an unwanted child," said a government-trained midwife, a middle-aged woman with a swirl of dark hair spilling from her head scarf.


She launched into a no-nonsense PowerPoint presentation on male and female anatomy, menstrual cycles, fertility and birth control.


"The trend among 'modern Iranians,' " she reminded the class, "is to have one child, two at most."


By Kenneth R. Weiss, Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times

and lowering insanely high birth rates isnt just good, it should be MANDATORY in over-growing Muslim countries!

PAKISTAN
1998: 130 million
2011: 200 million

insane growth for Pakistan and more burden on the economy!!

 

[M Ali Khan]

I have no doubt that it would be 80% propaganda & 20% reality when its coming out of a western author.

Please dont tell me Daily Ummat is your favourite newspaper.

If "western writers are 80% propaganda" then Human Rights Watch would not have bothered writing a 56 page detailed report of Rohingyas facing abuse in Burma!!

http://www.siasat.pk/forum/showthre...s-Watch-56-page-report-on-Rohingya-oppression

 

[Karwa_Karela]

Please dont tell me Daily Ummat is your favourite newspaper.

If "western writers are 80% propaganda" then Human Rights Watch would not have bothered writing a 56 page detailed report of Rohingyas facing abuse in Burma!!

http://www.siasat.pk/forum/showthre...s-Watch-56-page-report-on-Rohingya-oppression

It is my view, take it or leave it, dont post any such thing if you dont like disagreement , simple :),

sounds like we all are molvis in our own way, waysay who is "Robert Tait" chairman of human rights???, its him who wrote the article??? right???

 

[gotti]

The irony is, these very maulana hazraat helped in LOWERING the insanely high birth rates of Iran over the last 20-30 years through mandatory contraception classes required for couples before marriage.

http://www.aina.org/news/20120723194838.htm



and lowering insanely high birth rates isnt just good, it should be MANDATORY in over-growing Muslim countries!

PAKISTAN
1998: 130 million
2011: 200 million

insane growth for Pakistan and more burden on the economy!!

Mullah Mullah hota hai...laikin yaar wahan kay mullah nay abadi ka masla to hal ker diya....
[h=1]Ahmadinejad urges Iranian baby boom to challenge west[/h]Yaar rain day :P

 

[awan4ever]

This is the reason why Mullahs should be kept away from government. They have a shallow and conceited world view where they only evaluate things according to a very narrow line of thought and refrain from seeing the implications of their actions in the longer term.

Jaisay chawwal ye irani mullah hein waisay he talibaani bhe hongay ager wo power mein aa gye kaheen.

 

[M Ali Khan]

It is my view, take it or leave it, dont post any such thing if you dont like disagreement , simple :),

sounds like we all are molvis in our own way, waysay who is "Robert Tait" chairman of human rights???, its him who wrote the article??? right???

He's a senior journalist

Robert Tait is a senior correspondent with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and a former Tehran correspondent for the Guardian. Before that he worked with the Times in Jerusalem. He has also been Washington correspondent and political correspondent of the Scotsman

http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/roberttait

remember, google is your friend. (bigsmile)

Mullah Mullah hota hai...laikin yaar wahan kay mullah nay abadi ka masla to hal ker diya....
Ahmadinejad urges Iranian baby boom to challenge west

Yaar rain day :P

to quote some very close Iranian friends of mine

"Ahmedinejad is a f***ing monkey and a puppet of that Akhoond tyrant Khamenei"

true story. :P

 

[sabir1]

Bill Gates recalls once being invited to speak in Saudi Arabia and finding himself facing a segregated audience. Four-fifths of the listeners were men, on the left. The remaining one-fifth were women, all covered in black cloaks and veils, on the right. A partition separated the two groups.

Toward the end, in the question-and-answer session, a member of the audience noted that Saudi Arabia aimed to be one of the Top 10 countries in the world in technology by 2010 and asked if that was realistic.

“Well, if you’re not fully utilizing half the talent in the country,” Gates said, “you’re not going to get too close to the Top 10.” The small group on the right erupted in wild cheering.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/27/AR2007012700951.html

well with due respect ,bill gates should tell how many women works in Microsoft and how many women are there on executive position.i dont have number but i can tell you very few according to my information

arfa karim asked bill gates why are there very few women in Microsoft. he replied. i am quoting his words
" it is hard to find women interested in technology"

 

[sabir1]

women should also criticize the fact that they have separate universities where as men don't have. in this way they get admission at very low merit. this happens very often in Pakistan

 

[M Ali Khan]

well with due respect ,bill gates should tell how many women works in Microsoft and how many women are there on executive position.i dont have number but i can tell you very few according to my information

arfa karim asked bill gates why are there very few women in Microsoft. he replied. i am quoting his words
" it is hard to find women interested in technology"

with due respect back to you, CHOOSING to avoid a particular field is VASTLY DIFFERENT than being told "YOU CANNOT TAKE THIS FIELD BECAUSE YOU ARE BANNED" simple as that.

Bill Gates example I told was how women in countries like Saudi Arabia and other countries are RESTRICTED and almost BANNED from working in such environments that dont follow ridiculously backward segregation laws.

They should be encouraged and facilitated rather than be told to stay at home and be nothing more than roti-makers and baby-bearers.

The Arifa Kareem example was that many women CHOOSE not to take such fields because of various reasons but they are NOT forced by law to choose something else (like Iran has done). This example too needs to be overcome. You will find women working in the defence, technology, science, and medical research facilities around the west and they exercise tremendous influence without them waving it in public.

if you want progress, you need to move forward from out-dated concepts of society, segregation, and discrimination based on gender, race, and religion. Otherwise good luck even reaching top 100 countries in the world!

 

[M Ali Khan]

women should also criticize the fact that they have separate universities where as men don't have. in this way they get admission at very low merit. this happens very often in Pakistan

i am also against the concept of 'separate universities'. universities are supposed to groom future minds, leaders, intellectuals, and scholars etc in an open unrestricted environment rather than some exclusive middle school based on gender.

sure, facilitating women in education is a good thing as our culture still does not trust the responsibility of actual hard work on women and would prefer if they remain all inside the four walls of their houses and be roti/baby makers.

that needs to change from within too.

 

[sabir1]

i am also against the concept of 'separate universities'. universities are supposed to groom future minds, leaders, intellectuals, and scholars etc in an open unrestricted environment rather than some exclusive middle school based on gender.

sure, facilitating women in education is a good thing as our culture still does not trust the responsibility of actual hard work on women and would prefer if they remain all inside the four walls of their houses and be roti/baby makers.

that needs to change from within too.

which society trusts women to take sole responsibility. name please?
is bringing up a child a non issue ?
is being mother noting?
how many CEO are women in west?
how many noble laureate are women
how many prime ministers are women in west ?

 

[sabir1]

with due respect back to you, CHOOSING to avoid a particular field is VASTLY DIFFERENT than being told "YOU CANNOT TAKE THIS FIELD BECAUSE YOU ARE BANNED" simple as that.

Bill Gates example I told was how women in countries like Saudi Arabia and other countries are RESTRICTED and almost BANNED from working in such environments that dont follow ridiculously backward segregation laws.

They should be encouraged and facilitated rather than be told to stay at home and be nothing more than roti-makers and baby-bearers.

The Arifa Kareem example was that many women CHOOSE not to take such fields because of various reasons but they are NOT forced by law to choose something else (like Iran has done). This example too needs to be overcome. You will find women working in the defence, technology, science, and medical research facilities around the west and they exercise tremendous influence without them waving it in public.

if you want progress, you need to move forward from out-dated concepts of society, segregation, and discrimination based on gender, race, and religion. Otherwise good luck even reaching top 100 countries in the world!

that doesnt answer my question ? what about separate universities of women ?
what about women quota ?
low merit for women in universities ?

 

[awan4ever]

that doesnt answer my question ? what about separate universities of women ?
what about women quota ?
low merit for women in universities ?

There should be no quota system. Everyone should be given similar opportunities and similar platforms to compete.
However in a restrictive country like ours where many parents oppose their girls from going for higher education, separate universities for women to some degree help girls from stricter backgrounds to come out and study.
These can be phased out over time once education takes deeper roots.

The more important thing is to make the workplace more conducive to female workers where they are not harassed and can work freely to contribute to society. This way more girls will take up professional jobs instead of getting married and wasting their talents.

 

[mehwish_ali]

- It is because of the laws which are implemented in Iran that you find a little over 65% of the university population as women, not despite it. What other country in the world can compare?

Mullah or non-Mullahs, every one could be bad or good. Iranian Mullahs may be extreme in some other fields, (including women too, and even imposing Hijab on non Muslim women too which is contrary to Islam) ... but they did extremely good job in bringing the girls in education department.

Senior clerics in Iran's theocratic regime have become concerned about the social side-effects of rising educational standards among women, including declining birth and marriage rates.

It is not entirely true.
This move has not come by the Mullahs, but the Industry and Universities initiated this move. These 2 are the ones which are most closest to the reality on the Ground. And the reality is indeed this that despite all the modernism, still woman is not able to take all types of jobs, and even in the West mostly end up as a house wife.

The Oil Industry University, which has several campuses across the country, says it will no longer accept female students at all, citing a lack of employer demand. Isfahan University provided a similar rationale for excluding women from its mining engineering degree, claiming 98% of female graduates ended up jobless.[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]

[/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Even in Pakistan few university professors asked some thing similar about the female doctors, and then government tried to make a contract with the female students that they will not end up as house wives, but they will have to keep on practising their job for couple of years.
[/FONT]
If it were US where one has himself to pay for the education, then there will be no problems. But in countries where Government pays for the higher education, then there Government should have the right to take the decisions according to the ground realities of their respective countries.

I don't agree with the article writer that this decision is taken while Mullahs are against Girls education. No, Iranian Mullahs don't seem to be against girls education, but there are another reasons involved for such decision.

 

[awan4ever]

- It is because of the laws which are implemented in Iran that you find a little over 65% of the university population as women, not despite it. What other country in the world can compare?

Mullah or non-Mullahs, every one could be bad or good. Iranian Mullahs may be extreme in some other fields, (including women too, and even imposing Hijab on non Muslim women too which is contrary to Islam) ... but they did extremely good job in bringing the girls in education department.



It is not entirely true.
This move has not come by the Mullahs, but the Industry and Universities initiated this move. These 2 are the ones which are most closest to the reality on the Ground. And the reality is indeed this that despite all the modernism, still woman is not able to take all types of jobs, and even in the West mostly end up as a house wife.



Even in Pakistan few university professors asked some thing similar about the female doctors, and then government tried to make a contract with the female students that they will not end up as house wives, but they will have to keep on practising their job for couple of years.

If it were US where one has himself to pay for the education, then there will be no problems. But in countries where Government pays for the higher education, then there Government should have the right to take the decisions according to the ground realities of their respective countries.

I don't agree with the article writer that this decision is taken while Mullahs are against Girls education. No, Iranian Mullahs don't seem to be against girls education, but there are another reasons involved for such decision.

The decision to ban courses shows the narrow mindset of the mullahs.
If the mullahs were listening to industry then they would be working on making policy to help women integrate more into the work environment with men as well as help facilitate qualified women in getting jobs equivalent to their qualifications.
The most convenient tool the bloody mullahs have is to impose bans on anything they see threatening their shallow world view especially with respect to emancipation of women.
Clergy should NOT have the power to rule.
Ye ayatullah kay title lay ker dramay baazi banai hui hay irani mullahs nay to stay in power.

 

[Wadaich]

This is the reason why Mullahs should be kept away from government. They have a shallow and conceited world view where they only evaluate things according to a very narrow line of thought and refrain from seeing the implications of their actions in the longer term.

Jaisay chawwal ye irani mullah hein waisay he talibaani bhe hongay ager wo power mein aa gye kaheen.

Nice Bike Malik Sahib! How are U doing!

Since its creation (65-years) How many years Mullah have ruled Pakistan? It is the elite with education from Top Western Universities who has ruled ....... including Generals/civil bureaucracy/Politicians. To which pass they have brought Pakistan? Satanic Breed of Mullah (Diesel Brand) has also been part this elite group......what good they have brought....except misery? .......... Who controls/owns the media in Pakistan?????????? Mullah...eh!???????

To which pass enlightened and just elite has brought this world????????????

 

[awan4ever]

Nice Bike Malik Sahib! How are U doing!

Since its creation (65-years) How many years Mullah have ruled Pakistan? It is the elite with education from Top Western Universities who has ruled ....... including Generals/civil bureaucracy/Politicians. To which pass they have brought Pakistan? Satanic Breed of Mullah (Diesel Brand) has also been part this elite group......what good they have brought....except misery? .......... Who controls/owns the media in Pakistan?????????? Mullah...eh!???????

To which pass enlightened and just elite has brought this world????????????

Despite everything this poor, deprived nation is a nuclear power, was at one point the fastest growing economy, produces and exports man power in technical fields all over the world where they shine given the right opportunities, has the most open and self critical society in the entire Muslim world where debate is allowed openly despite mullahs trying to curb it in the name of religion.
jo kuch banay hay wo bhe educated logon nay he banaya hay aur bigara bhe unhon nay he hay. Mullah nay sirf bigaar he paida kee hay muashray mein. Koi naiki ka kaam nahi kiya jis ko aap keh sakain keh is say hamaray muashray mein sukh chain phela hay. Jahan dekho fasad aur larai jhagra kia hay, kabhi firqay ka naam pay, kabhi ummat kay naam pay kabhi shariat ka nam pay.

Contrast that with theocracies like Iran and Saudi Arabia with their vast oil wealth what have they achieved? Iran is a constipated nation where people are force fed edicts by the mullahcracy. Where a vast majority of middle class is more liberal and non-practicing muslims as compared to Pakistan. Their main export has been hate filled bullsh*t against the West which has been the only tool the mullahs have to keep the population fearful and in control.

Saudi Arab is built on the petro dollars and technology of the West with skilled workers imported from guess where...Pakistan among other countries.

Ager Mullah nay chandd saal humein rule kia hota tu aaj poora ka poora mulk Waziristan hota.