Women’s rights in Iran have taken a major step backwards in the last few days, with the announcement that 36 universities in the Arab country have banned female students from 77 different college courses. News of the ban was revealed in August; however it went into effect on September 22 with the start of the Iranian school year. No official reason has been given, although Iranian officials have been concerned with the recent decline in the country’s birth and marriage rates, which some see as being partially caused by women gaining post-secondary education.

Iranian Nobel Peace Laureate Shirin Ebadi told the BBC that the restrictions are designed to “restrict women’s access to education, to stop them being active in society, and to return them to the home.” Her point seems to make sense. Birth rates have been declining for the last five years, and the data for marriage rates is also showing a downward turn. In August, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenie urged Iranians to have more children and return to traditional values. Is stopping women from perusing further education part of his plan? In 2009, he called for the “Islamisation” of college campuses and said that sociology and other subjects were too western-influenced had no place in the curriculum.

Although other institutions in the country have not enacted women pursuing certain courses, with fewer spaces and more students, the ripple effect will be fewer women gaining education in lucrative fields. By banning women from these subjects but still allowing them into college, the Iranian regime is basically giving women some freedom, but not too much – lest they break free from the traditional lifestyle of women that has been slowly transforming for the last twenty years.

Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, in their fascinating and inspiring book Half the Sky – turning oppression into opportunity for women worldwide, argue that empowering women through education allows them to have fewer children, earn more money, empower their countries and raise healthier families, along with lots of other benefits. So, what exactly is the Iranian regime trying to do to their country?

I’m not sure what the plan is, but what I do know is that the role of women is changing around the world, and the Iranian government will not be able to suppress the changes going on in their country for much longer.