Iranian Political Science Association Research Letter of Political Science 1735790X 14 1 2019 02 20 Evaluating Barriers to participation for Female Political Elites in Political and Administrative Decision Making (Case Study: Female Members of Parliament) Evaluating Barriers to participation for Female Political Elites in Political and Administrative Decision Making (Case Study: Female Members of Parliament) 94 63 370 FA Zahra Haydari Department of Political Science and Islamic Revolution Studies ,School of Humanities ,Shahed University Abbas Keshavarz Shokri Department of Political Science and Islamic Revolution Studies, School of Humanities ,Shahed University,Tehran – Iran 0000-0002-7686-6578 Zahed Ghaffari Hashjin Department of Political Science and Islamic Revolution Studies, School of Humanities ,Shahed University,Tehran – Iran Ail Morshedizad Department of Political Science and Islamic Revolution Studies, School of Humanities ,Shahed University,Tehran – Iran 0000-0002-1915-235X Journal Article 2019 05 12 One of the main indicators of sustainable development is the political participation of women in the process of political and administrative decision making. any country must try to alleviate the barriers for the participation of women. The current study aims to answer the general question of ‘what are the barriers for women to play their roles in political and administrative decision making processes?’ The sample of the study includes 20 female members of parliament from ten rounds of Islamic Consultative Assembly. The methodology of the study is based on the quantitative and qualitative content analysis technique and the semi-structured interviews technique in collecting data and the content of the interviews. The data were analyzed in Excel and using Microsoft Visio in the form of various charts and models. Based on the findings of the study, the role-based barriers for women for participating in political and administrative decision making processes involve various structural and cultural factors. The main reason for women not supporting each other included ethical factors (self-confidence, stinginess, and so on. With regards to supportive measures, intellectual, cultural, structural, and legal factors were among the ones most mentioned. The most important action in this regard is the removal of gender perspective. The criterion of meritocracy showed the highest frequency among the conditions required for playing the role. The researcher summed up 4 main categories, 20 first subcategories and 58 second sub categories and 403 semantic expressions and is plotted and analyzed as graphs. One of the main indicators of sustainable development is the political participation of women in the process of political and administrative decision making. any country must try to alleviate the barriers for the participation of women. The current study aims to answer the general question of ‘what are the barriers for women to play their roles in political and administrative decision making processes?’ The sample of the study includes 20 female members of parliament from ten rounds of Islamic Consultative Assembly. The methodology of the study is based on the quantitative and qualitative content analysis technique and the semi-structured interviews technique in collecting data and the content of the interviews. The data were analyzed in Excel and using Microsoft Visio in the form of various charts and models. Based on the findings of the study, the role-based barriers for women for participating in political and administrative decision making processes involve various structural and cultural factors. The main reason for women not supporting each other included ethical factors (self-confidence, stinginess, and so on. With regards to supportive measures, intellectual, cultural, structural, and legal factors were among the ones most mentioned. The most important action in this regard is the removal of gender perspective. The criterion of meritocracy showed the highest frequency among the conditions required for playing the role. The researcher summed up 4 main categories, 20 first subcategories and 58 second sub categories and 403 semantic expressions and is plotted and analyzed as graphs. http://www.ipsajournal.ir/article_370_d709f38ef758b5066ef31b18039b8ce5.pdf