West sees women as tools to gain profit, pleasure. / Supreme Leader

Ayatollah Khamenei made the remarks during a meeting with a large number of women from across the country in the Imam Khomeini Hussainiyah, southern Tehran, on Wednesday, before the birth anniversary of Hazrat Fatima Zahra, the daughter of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).

“The issue of women in Islam is one of the strengths of Islam. Islam has a strong logic and a rational foundation in all areas related to women,” he said.

He noted that there are two approaches in such subjects in the world, one being the Western approach which is also prevalent in non-Western countries, and the other being the Islamic approach.

“These two [approaches] oppose each other,” he said.

But the outstanding issue, according to the Supreme Leader, is that the West avoids getting involved in debates and research about these topics.

Many questions in these subjects are not addressed by the West, he said, adding that the Western civilization tries to advance its agenda by creating controversies and commotion, exploiting arts and cinema, and using force, the internet, and so on.

The West “is not willing to answer the questions. The reason is that the West has no logic,” he asserted.

Elsewhere in his speech, Ayatollah Khamenei described Hazrat Fatima Zahra as the best role model for Muslim women.

“The dear women of our Islamic society should try to follow in the footsteps of Fatima Zahra in terms of housekeeping, social and political activity, and wisdom and knowledge,” he said.

He said women’s presence in different managerial, political, social, and cultural positions has no restriction in Islam.

The Supreme Leader also criticized the idea of “gender equality”, saying although it is preferable in some instances, it does not make sense in others.

He then introduced the notion of “gender justice” as the ideal to strive for, saying it can be applied everywhere.