A/HRC/22/56 Government perceives to be in conformity with Islamic criteria. The Special Rapporteur further maintains that this particular argument undermines the notion of universal rights, and compromises the rights protected by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights for virtually half of the country’s population. 2. Socioeconomic rights 41. The achievements made by Iranian women in the field of education has not yet been matched in their current economic status. Statistics demonstrate that a significant gender disparity persists in their participation in the labour market; furthermore, women still occupy only a small percentage of senior managerial positions. According to UNICEF, only 32 per cent of Iranian women are actively engaged in the labour market, compared with 73 per cent of men and 52 per cent of women in the global labour force.45 42. The Special Rapporteur is of the view that certain legal limitations placed on women’s employment, coupled with recent revisions of laws that affect their socioeconomic rights, severely weaken the Government’s ability to promote gender equality and to make progress on the recommendations made by the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights 46 and at the fourth session of the universal periodic review.47 These limitations include article 1117 of the Civil Code, which affords men the right to prohibit their wives from engaging in work outside the home if they can prove that the work is incompatible with the family’s interests. Furthermore, members of the Majlis recently reportedly proposed four articles that require women to be married in order to become members of a university scientific committee or to be employed at the Ministry of Education and Training. The speaker of the Parliament Social Commission reported that the preconditions had not yet been approved.48 43. In June 2012, the Ministry of Science and Technology announced that women sitting for the national entrance exam would be prohibited from enrolling in 77 fields of study at 36 public universities across the country.49 It was also reported that women’s enrolment in hundreds of courses offered during the 2012-2013 academic year at Iranian public universities was substantially restricted, including in courses on petroleum engineering, data management, communications, emergency medical technology, mechanical engineering, law, political sciences, policing, social sciences and religious studies. 50 Furthermore, policies to enforce gender segregation provide “single-gendered” university majors for alternating semesters in lieu of entirely banning access to either male or female candidates.51 In response to criticism from parliamentarians who called for an explanation, the Minister for Science and Higher Education responded that 90 per cent of degrees still remained open to both sexes, that single-sex courses were needed to create "balance” and that some fields “were are not very suitable for women”. In the light of the international obligations of the Islamic Republic of Iran under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and its Constitution, the Special Rapporteur urges the Government to review policies that could be discriminatory and set back the progress that the State has achieved in the area of women’s education. 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 14 UNICEF Gender Equality Profile (see footnote 32), p. 4. E/C.12/1993/7. A/HRC/14/12. www.farsnews.com/newstext.php?nn=13910822000692. www.mehrnews.com/fa/newsdetail.aspx?NewsID=1666033. ”Iran: Ensure Equal Access to Higher Education”, Human Rights Watch, 22 September 2012 (available from www.hrw.org/news/2012/09/22/iran-ensure-equal-access-higher-education); www.mehrnews.com/fa/newsdetail.aspx?NewsID=1666033. www.daneshjoonews.com/node/7643.