THE JOURNAL OF WOMENS' STUDIES (JOURNAL OF SCIENTIFIC AND RESEARCH ON WOMEN'S STUDIES)
Year:2008 | Volume:1 | Issue:3|Papers Count:10

Regarding the high population growth rate between 1355- 1365 (1976- 1986), the provision of human resource in Iran is dependent to the age structure of the population. As for women, economic, social and cultural factors should be also added to the said factor. Results of 1385 census (March 2006- December 2007) show the growth of the population over the age of 10; and considering lack of job opportunities, unemployment ratio for women and men has increased, however it should be noted that this increase concerns women more than men. Women's education has an impact on their employment in public sector. Distribution of employees in the main working groups is different regarding their gender and region (urbani rural). Findings of this census also indicate an increase in the number of girls and women attending universities or centers for higher education (graduates or current students) who are willing to enter the job market in the near future. Hence, in order to prevent any crisis or not to miss opportunities; planning for women's job market is necessary.

In recent years, women's employment and relevant issues are considered as research topics in sociology, social psychology, economics and management. Attitude towards women and their employment is one of the most important obstacles to their employment and, if employed, for their career progression. Moreover, other issues such as job satisfaction and a possible career progression, especially for women, are discussed as two main areas in the filed of sociology of work and professions.The aim of this research is to identify the degree of job satisfaction and a possible career progression for women, and female employees' view on the cultural acceptance of their employment, their professional capabilities and the relationship between these variants among female staff of governmental offices in Kerman.The results show 48.5 percent job satisfaction while 17.5 percent of people participating in the survey believed enjoying career progression and 42.8 percent did not have a positive view on women's employment or their capabilities. Factors such as the number of family members, views on women's employment, marital status, salary and financial status of the family, have an impact onjob satisfaction, and variants like the type of workplace and employment do also affect career progression for women.

In today's competitive world, countries seek sustainable development in order to develop and remain in the competition. Sustainable Development is defined as a human development which leads to the maximum, positive and long-lasting change in the people of society. The most important difference between sustainable development and other old definitions of development is in injecting that positive change to all the society and involving them in development process. In spite of this, women who form half of the world's population and have seldom been a subject or source of any such change, playa very important role in sustainable development. Indeed, the requirement for a sustainable "Sustainable development" is active participation and involvement of women in the development process. It is observed that women have been in the labor market in most developed and developing countries for more than 20 years. However, for a long time women have not been judged by the same standards as men when trying to enter a trade or profession reserved traditionally for men or even after becoming part of it, while progressing. This paper explores the concept of career progression of female staff in an academic institute. It seeks to answer the following research questions: what barriers are faced by women in career progression? What are the differences in perceptions among female sub-groups regarding these barriers? What policies and improvement programs can be provided to promote women's career progression? What is the relationship between women career progression and justice? We found that there is a significant relationship between career progression barriers with interactional and distributive justice.

In spite of the effective role of women who held academic degrees and enjoy common competencies, unfortunately the number of women who could reach top managerial levels is very small. This means that success of women in achievement of top managerial levels has no relation with their academic progress or professional experiences. Therefore, the existence of a 'glass ceiling' is evident. This research, try to identify the effective factors on the creation of the 'glass ceiling' in an organization and propose suggestions to decrease and melt it. Traditional male dominance on administrative structures is considered as the most important factor on the creation of 'glass ceiling' and the prevalence of a patriarchal culture and language in the organizations are also among effective factors on the development of men's power and dominance in the organizations.This research is based on a descriptive - experimental method through a correlation analysis for the examination of effective indicators for the creation of 'glass ceiling' in an organization. In this research, statistical population encompasses female employees in IPDC, and based on statistical analyzes, the representative sample have been selected Women's opinion were then gathered through a structured questionnaire and the results show that there is a direct relationship between traditional male dominance on administrative structures, the prevalence of a patriarchal culture and the increase of men power in the organizations, with the creation of the 'glass ceiling' within the organization. The glass ceiling' is indeed an obstacle that women confront and try to stop its progress in the organization. (Emerald group, 2006:19).

The objective of the present survey is to study the effective factors on the participation of female professors in academic management. Statistical population of this survey is female university professors of the State universalities in Tehran (250 participants) and the research method is correlation based on logistic regression. Theoretical framework of the research is a mathematical logistic model which has been deducted from theories of sexuality discrimination, women's role in development and theories of social status and obstruction. In this model, the dependent variable is being (or not being) a dean/head of department in universities. Our findings show that the ability of this model for predicting the status of female university professors is %84.7; which means that if a female professor becomes a manager, there is a %847 chance to predict her status by these factors. These findings also indicate the negative effects of family, cultural and professional barriers on their academic status; and the positive effect of their will for attaining a managerial position.

Without the participation of women, sustainable development will not be realized. Therefore, investment in girls' education is an effective factor to reach the development. The level of the participation of women in the universities, which are the best centers for progress and education, is a sign of development for a country. The educated women play more effective social and cultural roles and their constant participation supports the procedure of the sustainable development of the country. In addition, the progress in studies leads to the increase in the age of marriage, lowers the rates, reduces the number of the family members, improves the living conditions and changes the society's attitude towards women's work. Considering these factors, one could predict that the rate this the participation of women in the job market will increase in the coming years. Article tries to clarify the situation of the women in the higher education programs (in the universities or the centers for higher education) and its impacts on the recruitment of the educated women. The participants in the survey are students state of universities. Reefing to a library research method and a study of the statistical reports/ratios one could say that: - The participation of women in the programs to obtain associate, bachelor, master and doctorate (PhD, and professional doctorates) degrees has increased annually between the years 1376 – 1386 (1998 - 2008).- The number of the female students in the field of social sciences, engineering and technologies has increased. But the rate of increase in the number of female students in the field of engineering and technologies is much less than the rate of increase in the number of male students in the same field.  -The number of the PhD candidates in the field of engineering and technologies is increasing, and the number of female students in the field of social sciences is much more than the number of the male students.- The recent progress in women's education, especially in higher education, offers a new perspective for the increase in their future participation. The more women participate in higher education and gain educational experience, the more opportunities they will have for their future career development and access to high level occupations.

The aim of this study was to investigate the role of three factors employment, social status and political participation in female students' tendency towards higher education. The research plan was descriptive using quantitative qualititative and causal-comparative methods. Statistical sample of the research was 206 female students whom selected by random from Isfahan governmental/public Universities. Research instruments were researchers' made questionnaire and semi-structured interviews. Research results were analysed by SPSS software using some statistical tetchiness such as variance analysis and "t". Research results identified that female students’ tendency towards getting job, Higher prestige and participation in political affair was higher than the mean value. It meant that the above mentioned factors were effective infemale student s'tendency towards higher education.