Girls’ Education in Marginalized Iran: Policies, Barriers, and Community Responses in Peripheral Provinces

This thesis investigates the multifaceted socio-cultural, economic, and institutional barriers that impede girls' access to and retention in secondary education in Iran's peripheral provinces, using Sistan and Baluchestan as a critical case study. The province faces a severe educational equity gap, marked by a unique intersection of ethnic/religious minority status, pervasive poverty, and geographic marginalization. Adopting a qualitative, interpretive-critical approach, the study uses a theory-driven thematic analysis of diverse secondary data (policy documents, NGO reports, academic studies). The analysis is guided by the integrated framework of the Capability Approach, Intersectionality/Postcolonial feminism, and Critical pedagogy. The findings demonstrate that barriers are mutually reinforcing. Socio-cultural norms, particularly the high prevalence of early marriage (8.77% of girls under 15 in 2020) and rigid patriarchal expectations, directly restrict educational tenure. This is compounded by structural poverty (62% absolute poverty rate) that forces families to prioritize survival over educational costs. Furthermore, institutional neglect—including inadequate infrastructure, centralized educational policies, and pronatalist strategies—systematically perpetuates these inequalities. The research argues that a girl’s exclusion is rooted in the intersection of her gender, Baluch ethnicity, Sunni religious identity, and rural location, which is amplified by historical centre-periphery power dynamics. Overcoming these barriers requires a multi-level strategy that integrates legal reform, economic investment, and community-based practices to enhance girls' fundamental freedoms and collective agency.