Iran bans women from 77 university majors, including engineering, physics

ISTANBUL

Photo by Farzaneh Khademian/ABACAPRESS.COM

Iran’s Science and Higher Education Ministry has banned women from enrolling in 77 university departments on the grounds that there is no work for them once they graduate from post-secondary education, according to the Telegraph."Our experience in the past showed us that even if women graduate from these departments, they fail to work actively in these fields," a ministry official said.“Departments like agriculture and mining are unfit for the female nature,” the official also said.With the move, women will no longer be capable of becoming engineers, nuclear physicists, archaeologists, business graduates and computer scientists as these and other departments in over 35 Iranian universities will henceforth only admit male students.English literature, translation and hotel management are some of the other banned departments.Another Iranian official said the move was designed to establish “balance” in the education system.Some 65 percent of students in Iranian universities are women, and the country also has one of the highest female-versus-male graduation rates in the world.