Iran is relatively liberal on social issues

We’ll be talking about Iran a lot in the near future in the United States. I doubt we’ll invade the country (thank god). But one thing I think needs to be emphasized: on social issues Iran is more “progressive” than many of our close allies in the region, like Saudi Arabia, and one of the more progressive nations in the region. This is neither here nor there in the domain of geopolitics, but to convince a public about something it is often necessary to make a cartoon or caricature the enemy. I think it is important to remember though that aside from Israel our closest allies in the region are techno-feudal monarchies like Saudi Arabia, not those nations, like Iran, which have made a more thorough accommodation with modernity out of necessity (because oil can’t support the whole economy). It also reminds us that labels like “Islamic Republic” may not be totally useful.

As a gauge of modern outlook, as understood in the West, I poked around the World Values Survey. The results are for wave 4, around ~2000. The question asked was: A wife must always obey her husband. Possible answers:
– Agree strongly
– Agree
– Neither agree or disagree
– Disagree
– Strongly disagree

Below are two tables with nations which responded to this question. I stratified by sex and educational level of respondents. The sample sizes are in the “Total” column. The other numbers are percentages, summed along the rows to 100%. There are some surprises, but I’ll let the data speak for itself….

		Total	Agree strongly	Agree	Neither	Disagree	Strongly disagree
Algeria		1252	44	31	15	8	2
Sex	Male	635	57	27	11	6	1
	Female	617	31	35	20	11	2
Bangladesh		1489	34	49	10	5	2
Sex	Male	825	38	49	8	4	1
	Female	664	29	49	12	7	3
Indonesia		992	27	52	6	12	3
Sex	Male	499	36	50	6	7	1
	Female	493	18	55	6	17	5
Iran (Islamic Republic of)		2496	24	28	18	17	12
Sex	Male	1343	31	31	17	14	7
	Female	1153	16	25	20	21	19
Iraq		2305	64	25	9	0	2
Sex	Male	1114	63	27	9	0	2
	Female	1191	65	24	10	0	2
Jordan		1219	43	31	7	12	7
Sex	Male	593	57	29	5	6	4
	Female	626	29	34	10	18	9
Morocco		1012	56	24	13	6	1
Sex	Male	496	66	22	10	3	1
	Female	516	47	27	17	8	1
Nigeria		2020	83	13	2	1	1
Sex	Male	1031	87	10	1	1	1
	Female	989	79	17	3	1	1
Pakistan		1975	28	19	20	20	13
Sex	Male	1021	34	18	19	17	12
	Female	954	22	21	21	23	14
Saudi Arabia		1494	52	30	13	3	2
Sex	Male	753	64	26	8	1	0
	Female	741	39	33	19	5	4
Turkey		3368	32	42	15	11	0
Sex	Male	1706	39	41	13	8	0
	Female	1662	25	43	16	15	0
Egypt		3000	47	31	12	10	0
Sex	Male	1540	53	29	11	7	0
	Female	1460	40	34	14	12	0
Total		22622	44	31	12	9	4

---

		Total	Agree strongly	Agree	Neither	Disagree	Strongly disagree
Algeria		1248	44	31	15	8	2
Education level (recoded)	Lower	301	49	31	12	8	0
	Middle	544	46	31	16	7	1
	Upper	403	39	30	17	10	4
Bangladesh		1476	34	49	9	5	2
Education level (recoded)	Lower	789	34	52	8	5	2
	Middle	401	37	46	10	5	3
	Upper	286	31	49	12	7	2
Indonesia		985	27	53	6	12	2
Education level (recoded)	Lower	241	25	58	5	8	3
	Middle	411	28	53	5	13	1
	Upper	333	29	49	6	13	3
Iran (Islamic Republic of)		2391	24	28	18	17	12
Education level (recoded)	Lower	757	36	27	16	12	9
	Middle	981	21	31	19	18	11
	Upper	653	16	25	19	22	18
Iraq		2288	64	25	9	0	2
Education level (recoded)	Lower	1298	67	25	7	0	1
	Middle	577	63	24	11	0	3
	Upper	413	55	29	13	0	3
Jordan		1217	43	31	7	12	7
Education level (recoded)	Lower	587	54	27	6	7	6
	Middle	332	36	34	8	15	8
	Upper	297	27	38	9	19	8
Morocco		1012	56	24	13	6	1
Education level (recoded)	Lower	788	63	24	10	3	0
	Middle	160	38	26	22	13	1
	Upper	64	22	30	25	14	9
Nigeria		2012	83	13	2	1	1
Education level (recoded)	Lower	768	83	13	2	1	1
	Middle	774	85	13	1	1	1
	Upper	470	80	15	3	2	0
Pakistan		1973	28	19	20	20	13
Education level (recoded)	Lower	1078	36	27	12	9	16
	Middle	614	20	10	33	31	6
	Upper	281	13	11	24	36	17
Saudi Arabia		1494	52	30	13	3	2
Education level (recoded)	Lower	135	46	31	13	6	4
	Middle	973	52	29	13	3	2
	Upper	386	52	30	13	3	2
Turkey		3179	33	43	14	11	0
Education level (recoded)	Lower	1975	37	48	9	6	0
	Middle	918	29	39	18	14	0
	Upper	287	15	23	33	29	0
Egypt		2998	47	31	12	10	0
Education level (recoded)	Lower	1516	53	32	9	7	0
	Middle	927	43	31	15	11	0
	Upper	555	38	30	18	15	0
Total		22272	45	31	12	9	4