Gender Digital Divide in Iran

Iranian society, in terms of citizens’ access to the internet and modern technology, digital citizenship, and the digital gender gap, has its own unique features and paradoxes. While 17% of graduates from higher education are in the fields of communication and information technology, and nearly 50% of them are women, the valuable human resources and capital in this field are not being utilized. Despite the fact that women make up 65% of higher education students in Iran, their presence in the job market is less than 13%. This nearly 50% gap is one of the deepest gender gaps in the world in terms of women with higher education and their presence in the job market. In fact, the gender-biased society of Iran, with its discriminatory laws and backward mentalities, is the most prominent obstacle in the digital gender gap in Iran.

Only in the province of West Azerbaijan, 1600 people graduate annually in technology-related fields, and more than 50% of them