Proposing Gender-Specific Textbooks in Iran (Iranvnc.com)

Washington, June 3, 2008 (IranVNC)—Ali Reza Ali Ahmadi, now the Iranian Minister of Education, wants boys and girls to have separate school textbooks according to "the requirements of age and sex." He expects textbooks to mirror only the values of Iran's culture and religion, but others view his proposal as a form of gender discrimination.

16.30 GMT-12:30 PM/EST

Boys and girls in Iran should have different textbooks, according to Ali Reza Ali Ahmadi, now the Minister of Education. His goal is to provide students with books according to "the requirements of age and sex."

ShayanArya, Center for Monitoring the Impact of Peace (March 10, 2008): "They would like to teach girls probably as early as nine years old the proper behavior towards their husbands and all kinds of so-called Islamic responsibilities that they have to carry on. And Ahmadinejad's government is pushing for that."

In a population of nearly 70 million, more than 95 percent are over six. They are split almost equally between males and females. Nearly equal numbers of both sexes attend primary schools. But, their numbers differ at the university level.

Arya: "Now that the number of Iranian girls in universities is increasing, supposedly more girls are in universities than boys, what they are trying to do is to put quotas."

Ali Ahmadi denies the "textbook differentiation" by gender is a form of discrimination. Ali Ahmadi (Jan 25, 2008): " On the contrary, [the goal is to] give a more precise response to the needs of the students... the spiritual, physical and mental needs of boys and girls are not identical, and therefore textbooks that give them information cannot be the same."

Iranians had to voice their reactions in these blogs:

BloggerShirzadAbdullahi, education expert: "Boys and girls will eventually live and work together, and form a family. So separating textbooks by gender will only keep their worlds further apart."

Blogger Fatimah Kassim, university professor: "There is no such a thing as gender-specific textbooks."

Ali Ahmadi explains the underlying reasons for introducing such textbooks:
"...not to photocopy Western textbooks, because our textbooks must only have space for our values and not those of other cultures."

An extension of preserving those values was the recent campaign by Iran's prosecutor general against Barbie dolls. According to him: "These toys, which do not respect the required norms, present dangers for the health of children... and young people whose personality is in the process of being formed."

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