A Survey on Women's Demand for Higher Education in Iran

Using quantitative and qualitative methods, this article investigates an increase in number of women in higher education. The paper suggests that after the Iranian Revolution (1979), the number of women in higher education has increased substantially. Then, the convergence! of women's social demand for higher education based on the generalized growing model of Solo-Swan and Pooling technique, is examined in various provinces of the country between "1984-2003". In general, the appraisal of convergent model for women (1984-2003), indicates that the convergence, concerning women's social demand for higher education has not occurred among the various provinces of Iran. Therefore, the hypothesis is considered for two periods of ten years, from 1984 to 1993 and 1994 to 2003. The analysis implies that women's social demand for higher education at two periods have converged in various provinces. The assessment reveals that women and men convergent pace2 are different, so that the convergent pace of women's demand for higher education has been more than men at two given periods of time, and it shows that the convergence in social demand for higher education varies between men and women.