During the era of post-Revolution rule, Iranian women have had more opportunities in some areas and more restrictions in others. One of the striking features of the revolution was the large scale participation of women from traditional backgrounds in demonstrations leading up to the overthrow of the monarchy. The Iranian women who had gained confidence and higher education under Pahlavi era participated in demonstrations against Shah to topple monarchy. The culture of education for women was established by the time of revolution so that even after the revolution, large numbers of women entered the civil service and higher education, and in 1996 fourteen women were elected to the Islamic Consultative Assembly. In 2003, Iran's first woman judge in Pahlavi era, Shirin Ebadi, won Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts in promoting human rights.
According to UNESCO world survey, at primary level of enrollment Iran has the highest female to male ratio in the world among sovereign nations, with a girl to boy ratio of 1.22:1.00. By 1999, Iran had 140 female publishers, enough to hold an exhibition of books and magazines published by women. As of 2005, 65% of Iran's university students and 43% of its salaried workers were women, and as of early 2007 nearly 70% of Iran's science and engineering students are women. This has led to many female school and university graduates being under-utilised. This is beginning to have an effect on Iranian society and was a contributing factor to the anti-regime protests by Iranian youth.
27.1% of the ministers in government are women (ranks 23rd out of 125 countries) and 3.4% are parliamentarians (140th out of 157 countries). In 2009 Fatemeh Bodaghi became Vice President for Legal Affairs and a top advisor to President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad. Maryam Mojtahidzadeh who runs the women's ministry was also selected as an advisor to the president.
