Now who is being sexist? I did only a cursory search and this is what I found. I am sure if you are really interested, you can do more.
Because the underlying assumption of much writing on gender and fundamentalism is that all forms of fundamentalism are visions dreamt by men and for men, the unprecedentedly large scale and almost continuous support of Iranian women for the regime is difficult to fathom. One reason, ironically, is that women, breaking with traditions that place women in the domestic domain, have been participating in public politics in support of the ëtraditional' vision of male and female roles and the division of social and familial responsibilities. Furthermore, even now, more than a decade and a half after women's support and political participation helped to establish the Islamic state as the vehicle of striving towards a just and fair Islamic society, neither women nor the state are quite willing to retire and relegate women to the domestic domain.
Having discovered the considerable untapped value of women as a political force, the government of the Islamic Republic has shrewdly encouraged women to remain in the political arena while simultaneously urging the model of ëIslamically' domesticated wives and mothers on them.[2] This is in marked contrast with the earlier position of many political leaders, who viewed politics as a male domain and domesticity and motherhood as the cornerstone of women's lives...
And from a different research paper...
Since the beginning of the revolution, a group of women, either through their own action or by extension of their male relatives, have remained with the revolution and the Republic. Some have gained offical leadership positions, some have de facto power and no official title. Like similar fundamentalist movements, the top leadership in the republic has been all male. Below this group, there is a group of women sprinkled throughout the power structure of the state bureacracy or its affiliated institutions. Some are well known due to their positions or their personalities, some remain behind the scene unknown to the public. Despite their official titles, they affect state policies in general and women issues in particular. This chapter reports the results of a series of interviews with thirty-eight women leaders and three target group discussions.
Selection Process and Participants' Characteristics
The data for this part were collected in 1989 and 1992. Most of the interviews and focus group discussions took place in 1989. Five members of the original sample of the leaders were interviewed again in 1992, and three new leaders were added. Of the original group, three who were dependent on men for their status have lost most of their power though remaining public figures. These women were tied to the conservative faction, which was defeated in the 1992 election.
And lest your limited perspective leads you to believe the problem is with Muslim fundamentalists only, this is what we have on the Christien side:
This is a conference about utopian and dystopian visions, designed to help us envision the world as we would like it to become. In such a quest I believe it is essential that we recognize that our utopia may be another woman's dystopia, and vice versa, and to explore why these different ideal visions exist so that hopefully we can work towards a society that is truly good for all women and men.
The group of women whose thinking I want to explore is Fundamentalist Protestant women who support the work of the New Religious-Political Right, or NRPR. The forms of support that these women give are many, and their grass-roots energy has been critical to several successes of the NRPR, for example the defeat of the ERA and the continuation of the abortion debate. The question arises of why these women devote so much energy to a cause that preaches women's subordination and confinement to home and family. Simple answers -- such as they're stupid or brain-washed -- are unacceptable because they degrade these women's intelligence and will and ignore their honest conviction that what they are doing is best for women and for society.
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This is turning into a very useless debate and I have other things to do.
Sun Tzu
Neo: Why do my eyes hurt?
Morpheus: Because you never used them before.
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