TEHRAN -- The director of the Women's Participation Center of the Presidential Office, Zahra Shojaei, said that women make up 31 percent of public sector workers and occupy 2.9 percent of management positions. She noted that there has been a 65.6 percent rise in the number of women managers over the past five years.

Pointing to the rising number of successful female university students, Shojaei stressed the role of the Islamic Revolution in raising the social status of women. She said that 62 percent of those who passed university entrance exams this year were young women.

Shojaei stated that the Third Development Plan for Women's Participation has not properly taken into account the increased number of educated women.

She underlined the fact that 81 percent of Iranian women are literate now, but only 25 percent were literate before the Islamic Revolution.

Shojaei concluded by saying that although the number of women employed by the Ministry of Education is higher than in other ministries, very few have management positions, as is also the case in other ministries.

The director of the Project of Women's Nongovernmental Organizations (NGOs), Zahra Nejad-Bahram, said that the government should make efforts to increase women's participation in the economy.