papicek:

All sorts of semi-revealing factoids are out there, for example: a greater percentage of Iranian women attend university than American women.

When I took part in the International Mathematical Olympiad I observed the Iranian team in a study session.

The Iranian team was one of very few teams to have any girls in the team. In fact it was 3 male and 3 female students, which must have put them at the top of the female opportunity league just behind Denmark.

However, the boys and girls sat at separate tables several metres apart and studied separately, with the instructor going back and forth between the two tables.

I don't know what this says for Iranian society vis-a-vis American society

I don't either, other than it's a different society.

Most economists teach a theoretical framework that has been shown to be fundamentally useless. -- James K. Galbraith