Khamenei, Rouhani clash on women’s role in society

On the occasion of Women’s Day in Iran, Iran’s president and supreme leader presented contrasting roles in society for women. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has previously rebuked President Hassan Rouhani’s cultural policies, but this appears to be the first time that the president has contradicted the supreme leader in an area that the two have consistently clashed.

“If we want our view with respect to the issue of women to be healthy, logical and precise,” Ayatollah Khamenei said yesterday, April 19, “we have to empty our minds of this talk that Westerners say about women, [such as] about employment, about management, about gender equality.