During the last decades, Iranian women's educational rate has increased greatly; at the beginning of the twenty-first century 75.2 percent of Iranian women are literate. The employment rate in formal sectors has not kept pace. Women's participation in the small business sector is in part a response to this disparity.

Small businesses constitute a major part of Iran's economy. Their contribution to GNP (gross national product) is low in comparison to other countries. For example, in Singapore 94 percent of in…