This is a trend across much of the Middle East, with women going to university to gain what independence they can, and young men tending to get jobs early and forego post-secondary. Iran famously had the highest women-to-men ratio in STEM in the world with 70% of students being women. This trend can be seen in Iraq also and likely other countries in the middle east and north africa. In fact, its sort of a global trend that university and college populations are skewed female.