One has to admit that, for many Iranian girls, receiving a college education is the only way to ‎enter the labor market and achieve social mobility. This is precisely why female university ‎enrollment rates have continued to rise over the years in Iran. ‎

From 1375 to 1384 (1996 to 2005), the percentage of female university enrollments in all majors ‎and fields has been 43, 43, 46, 48, 51, 52, 53, 54, 54, and 55 percent, respectively. ‎

According to the Strategic Majlis Research Center, from that year, meaning 1384 (2005), the ‎Sanjesh organization [in charge of country's higher education] decided to implement restrictions ‎on female enrollment rates in 26 majors in 1385 [2006] and in 39 majors in 1386 [2007] (in a ‎way that allocated 30 to 40 percent to female students and the rest to male students). ‎

The reason for that decision, according to the Strategic Majlis Research Center, was to alleviate ‎‎"problems related to increasing female presence in universities and centers of higher education." ‎

What was published two days ago in the Iranian press regarding this issue demonstrated that the ‎most important factor behind that decision was a worry that society's economic and social power ‎relations may be altered. ‎

And the truth is exactly that! The growth in the number of female university students has ‎disrupted social relations - or, as higher education officials call it, the social "balance." Clearly, ‎a society that has a higher percentage of educated females than males will not tolerate ‎discriminatory gender laws. ‎

The policy-makers who regard the increasing number of educated women not as a sign of social ‎progress, but rather is a reason for concern, are clearly still operating in a paternalistic frame of ‎mind. As such, they conclude that, because they cannot stop the social progress of women, they ‎must change the rules of the game in order to preserve the paternalistic framework that ‎dominates family and social relations. ‎

Therefore, the main reason for limiting female university enrollment rates is to combat the ‎emerging awareness among the Iranian women who oppose discriminatory gender laws. ‎

This emerging awareness, however, is an inescapable reality that the Islamic Republic cannot ‎combat by force. Limiting female university enrollment rates may, in the short-run, suffocate the ‎talents of Iranian women. But these women certainly will find new ways of progress and ‎attaining better lives. These women will not tolerate the traditional order that is imposed on ‎them. The officials can be sure of that! ‎