Iranian cleric opposes women to be appointed governors

Why do mullahs hate women so much? I know many clerics who’re infuriated when they see women driving or working in offices. For some strange reason, Saudi Arabia doesn’t allow women to drive or go out of their houses without being accompanied by a close male relative (like a son or brother or husband). I can understand this kind of thinking among illiterate men who think women are agents of Satan. But this is the twenty first century and most Muslims don’t believe that allowing women any freedom poses a danger to their religion or culture.

So today I was surprised to read that an Iranian cleric (Grand Ayatollah Lotfollah Safi Golpayghani) has warned the government there not to appoint women as governors of provinces (I’d always thought Iranian mullahs were not as illiterate as their Pakistani counterparts). I’d like to mention here that Pakistan has had women governors, ambassadors and even a prime minister, although the Jamaat-e-Islami violently reacted when someone proposed that women should drive buses (even though in some areas of Karachi and Lahore more women than men are seen driving cars).

Talking about the Iranian mullah (Daily Times, 16th October 2009), he is reported to have said that “God will be furious if women become governors.” I’d like to know how he came to this conclusion. I have found nothing in the Holy Koran or the Hadith to support this view.