Any article that compares Iran and Saudi Arabia like this is a naive over-generalization. I'm not sure what the author means by empowerment, but Iran is much closer to US in terms of gender equality than Saudi Arabia.
In Iran, 12-year education is mandatory for both genders. There are more female university graduates than male (around 60%), although much like US, fewer pursue engineering degrees[1]. More than half of medical students are female.
Yes, girls are discriminated against in labor market. There are less likely to get a job if there is a similarly-qualified or slightly less-qualified male candidate and will probably earn less than their male counterparts, but don't you have the same problem in your country?
I hope you understand why I hate it when someone puts the name of my country in the same sentence as Saudi Arabia, where they sentenced a woman to flogging because she dared to drive[2].
[1] I don't have any statistics, but in my university, 25-30% engineering students were female. There were less girls in traditionally male-dominated majors like civil engineering, compared to computer and electrical engineering. Also, the majority of Chemistry students were female.
[2] http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/flogging-sentence...