The purpose of this study is to examine the actual political conditions that exist for the Iranian women. What is the political reality of the Iranian women and how can they exert political influence within the political system that exists in Iran today. This is done to see how the Iranian women's potential political influence affects Iran's democratic status. This will be answered through the overall research question: What opportunities do the Iranian women have to influence policy? This overall question is then split into three smaller research questions: 1) What formal possibilities to political influence do the Iranian women have? 2) What real possibilities to political influence do the Iranian women have? 3) How have women in Iran tried to exert political influence outside the institutional framework? This will be done through a qualitative text analysis where texts concerning the Iranian women’s political influence are examined. The theoretical basis for the study is Dahl's theories of an ideal democracy and polyarchy together with radical and liberal feminism. The Iranian women have many formal rights and opportunities for political influence given by the Constitution but these are not transferred to reality. The Iranian women have also been active in various political actions to influence their situations and the policies of the country. Because of the fact that women are underrepresented in political institutions, prevented from standing for all political offices and that the government exercises strong control over both women and society Iran cannot be considered to meet Dahl's five criteria for an ideal democracy or the seven institutions necessary for polyarchy. Therefore Iran cannot be regarded as an ideal democracy or as a polyarchy. According to radical and liberal feminism Iran also has a patriarchal political system with a society that supports the male dominance over its women.