TEHRAN -- Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Safdar Hosseini said July 16 that the level of women participation in the country's national security and socio-economic development is important. He said women participation, in Iran, in the domains of development and national security is 12-14 percent, "whereas the same figure runs as high as 22 percent to 25 percent in other nations such as Syria and Kuwait."

This figure points to the need for the serious need for country to create better grounds for employment opportunities for women.

In a comprehensive look at the employment situation in the country, Iran's Statistical Center (ISC) said in a report in June that the unemployment rate among the educated -- those with high-school education or higher -- stood at 41.4 percent in the last Iranian year. "The figure compares with the 23 percent unemployment rate among the lower educated and illiterate groups in the same period," it added.

The statistical survey indicated that 2.4 percent of unemployed were between 15-24 years of age and 'the unemployed were 60 percent and 72 percent men and women, respectively'.

Unemployment rate among women is underestimated when their labor force participation rate of 13 percent is compared with that for men with 53 percent in the 15-24 years age group, reported IRNA.

Although women constitute a lower number of applicants in the job market, they still have less chance of finding employment, ISC said.