Abstract
This paper deals with the situation of women in Iran and Saudi Arabia. In the introduction I describe the present state of both countries and societies, that have been going through hastened modernization threatening in the eyes of the "traditionalists" cultural authenticity.
Women are generally regarded as guardians of the original culture which is whyconservatives' attention has been constantly concentrated upon them. As I describe in the part about Islam and the following one, most of the rules deemed islamic do not spring from the religion but were gradually incorporated in it.
In the next two parts the importance of education and vocation is being stressed as the facilitator of women's self-confidence. The fast growing numbers of highly educated and qualified women express their discontent with institutionalized discrimination and the activists seek reinterpretation of the restraining rules.
The seventh part is a comparison of the Iranian and Saudi women's movements and the eighth presents the results of opinion polls that to a great extend support my presumption of similarities in both societies.