[A light lunch will be available on a first-come, first-served basis]
Abstract: While in the last two decades, the participation of women in higher education has significantly increased, particularly at undergraduate and general levels of study, their attendance at higher, graduate and professional levels of study, including the medical education is not significant. Accordingly, this study is an endeavor to explain poor presence of women at higher and professional levels of medical education in Iran taking a qualitative research approach. It draws on in-depth semi-structured interview data (Key Informant Interview with 47 participants) and the secondary sources to explore whether gender discrimination in medical education is a myth or a reality in the context of Islamic Republic of Iran? According to the findings of this study, the participants identify five reasons as main factors that deter women achieving higher positions in Iranian medical education system and to be considered as serious contenders for higher, specialized, and managerial positions of the system. These factors or themes are: "dominance of paternalism culture in Iranian society," "limiting women’s involvement mainly to the domains of marriage and family," "lower self-esteem and obedient attitudes towards the authority," "lesser financial and economic expectations from women," and “adherence to traditional and religious norms in relations between men and women". The article argues that all these factors can be summarized and integrated in the hegemonic presence of two broad categories, namely “patriarchal family” and “gender-based values and stereotypes” in contemporary Iran. These two categories are the core concepts in explaining the poor presence of women at higher and specialized positions of medical education. 

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