"Racing against the Mullahs
...
Then she tells the story of how she and her father went to see an
ayatollah in Tehran. They asked him for a fatwa, and the cleric complied
and issued a religious ruling stating that there are no religious
reasons to prevent women from competing in races against men. The only
condition was that the Islamic dress code had to be adhered to.

The drivers wear a fireproof suit, gloves, a hood and a helmet. When the
race begins, not even their eyes are visible behind their visors. They
couldn't possibly be covered up any further. This explains why women
were allowed to race.

Nevertheless, the religious fanatics routinely pull them out of
circulation. At times, they must feel like the characters in a puppet
theater, controlled by invisible strings.

Seddigh is currently barred from racing because she supposedly broke the
rules in her last race. 'But I didn't do anything wrong', she insists".

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,529173-2,00.html

IOW, religion is just used as an excuse to discriminate against women.

On Jan 18, 3:28 pm, B J Foster <bjfos...@yahoo.com.au> wrote:

"Racing against the Mullahs
...
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,529173-2,00.html

IOW, religion is just used as an excuse to discriminate against women.

If not religion, they'd find some other excuse. I always wonder how
much of the trouble in Iran is actually due to what the Koran actually
says and how much of it is tradition. It would seem that religion, as
you pointed out, is just being used as an excuse to do what they have
done for centuries, and in that sense, it can't be blamed completely
for the current state of affairs.