Sultan to as a sultanate ( "). The term is distinct from king ( "), despite both referring to a sovereign ruler. The use of "sultan" is restricted to Muslim countries, where the title carries religious significance, contrasting the more secular "king", which is used in both Muslim and non-Muslim countries. A feminine form of "sultan", used by Westerners, is Sultana or Sultanah and this title has been used legally for some (not all) Muslim women monarchs and sultan's mothers and chief consorts. However, Turkish and Ottoman Turkish also uses "sultan" for imperial lady, as Turkish grammar—which is influenced by Persian
Female labor force in the Muslim world Egypt, do not have a single female member of their board of directors or among their senior management teams. No women occupy the top leadership positions in the most profitable Iranian businesses either. Iran's three largest companies-National Iranian Oil Company (the second largest in the Muslim World), Iran Khodro, and National Petrochemical Company-also do not have any women in senior leadership positions. This is not surprising as the 2006 Iranian census showed that only 4% of women are in senior executive or management positions. Critics of Iran's radical shia theocratic government may attribute this evidence of limited female economic mobility