Some of the gentlemen from Tehran and Qom sent messages to the Imam who was in Najaf advising him that on balance it was likely that the women participating in the rallies and protest marches would be arrested and affronted. For this reason they called upon the Imam that for instance to issue a statement asking women not to participate in protest marches. They opined that if the Imam’s views would reach them, they would certainly respect it. On hearing this message the Imam became highly upset and angered because he was convinced that the Islamic and political struggle and movement minus the presence of women was for all intents and purposes flawed and would not bear fruit. Thus according to him, the opinion of any person who did not hold such a view was corrupt, deviant and distorted. Subsequently, he also sent the following message: “Women should participate alongside men and shoulder to shoulder with them in all stages (of the Revolution) and no one has the right to make a statement on the question of segregation of women from political and societal and cultural movements.”
Name of the narrator: Hujjat al-Islam wal Muslimeen Ali Akbar Mohtashami
Title of the Book: Impressions and Memoirs about Imam Khomeini's Practical Behaviour, vol. 1, chapter six, pages 273 and 274