Ayatollah Sanei said women's ''bad treatment'' since the Islamic Revolution contradicted the teachings of Islam. And he said it was wrong not to allow women to become judges or to accept them as full witnesses in courts. There were women judges before the revolution, but they were removed in 1979. In recent years they have been brought back, but so far only in an advisory capacity. However, many commentators say women have made significant gains since the revolution, compared with life under the shahs.
Iranian women are generally well educated and more women now attend university than men.
They are gradually moving into male work spheres, such as the police force, and they have entered the government. One of Iran's vice-presidents, Masoumeh Ebtekar, is a woman, and women held 14 of the 270 parliamentary seats before the general election. As in 1979, when they were in the vanguard of the street protests that toppled the Shah, Iran's women are once again playing a dominant role in the movement for change.