Comparative Failure in Science.

The aim of the present research was to study the lifetime obstacles and opportunities of academically successful women working at Iran universities. Successful female academics in Iran are concerned about the social and personal barriers to pursuing successful careers in academia. These women continually work to overcome these barriers in an ongoing process called overcoming obstacles. This basic social process has five stages: perceiving inequality, conflicting, dissolving, empowering and acting purposefully. Throughout the process, these women have first become aware of gender inequities and then worked towards overcoming them using self-motivation properties and support from external sources such as family, mentors and colleagues. This substantive theory, though rooted in a specific country with a strong male dominated social structure, is applicable to all societies as they continue to work towards equitable access to high-level career opportunities.