Gender Gap in the Fifth and Sixth Development Plans of the Islamic Republic of Iran; Content Analysis of the Economic Opportunity and Participation Index

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 PhD student of Political Science, Mashhad Branch, Islamic Azad University, Mashhad, Iran.

2 Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, Mashhad branch, Islamic Azad University, Mashhad, Iran.

3 Assistant Professor, Department of Social Sciences, Quchan branch, Islamic Azad University, Quchan, Iran.

Abstract
The aim is to examine the gender gap in the economic opportunity and participation index in the fifth and sixth development plans and compare with each other. This Index is one of four indicators monitored by the World Economic Forum based on a series of data, and based on that, countries are scored and ranked annually. The question is: What are the views of the fifth and sixth development programs regarding the gender gap in the index of economic participation and opportunity? Considering that the fifth plan was formulated and implemented in the principled government of Ahmadinejad and the sixth plan in the moderate government of Rouhani, the hypothesis is that in the fifth plan, economic support for women heads of households is often discussed in order to support the family institution and in the sixth plan, women have been supported for more opportunities to participate in the development of the country. By using the method of thematic analysis, the present research first examined the text of the law of the fifth and sixth development plan, then by extracting the basic, organizer and inclusive themes, it obtained the level of attention of the principled and moderate governments to the above index. Further, by examining the domestic statistics and figures as well as Iran's score and rank in the World Economic Forum, it has compared the gender gap in the fifth and sixth plans. According to statistics, the fifth program performed better than the sixth program in this indicator.

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Volume 20, Issue 1 - Serial Number 77
No.77
Winter 2025
Pages 51-82

  • Receive Date 13 December 2024
  • Revise Date 04 February 2025
  • Accept Date 24 February 2025