Abstract. In two recent decades, with the changes that have taken place in social and economic situation of societies, using the female labor force has been introduced as one of the fundamental topics in the area of development. Social and economic changes in the two recent decades in Iran have influenced women’s participation based on which we assess and analyze women’s status in Iran’s labor market in this paper using the census data.

Estimates show that women’s economic participation has substantially varied during the time period 1996-2006 and has decreased from 9.1 percent in 1996 to 12.4 percent in 2006. Nevertheless, estimates denote a substantial difference between men’s and women’s participation rate and unemployment, and Iran’s labor market has sexual inequality regarding participation, employment, job variety, and employment vertical levels, in favor of men.