A post on X by Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's highlighting income inequality between women and men in the West stoked criticism by users who pointed to the Islamic theocracy's record on women's rights.
“In many Western countries today, women are paid less than men for doing the same work." Khamenei’s official English-language account posted on Wednesday. "That’s how they are today, which is totally unjust.”
The message echoed parts of a speech he delivered the same day to an audience of women and girls, in which he defended the compulsory Islamic veil and criticized the treatment of women in the West.
A "readers added context" note under his post, a feature introduced under the platform's new owner Elon Musk which collates users' responses, said bluntly:
"Iran has a greater gender inequality than the entire west."
X user Guney Yazar quipped: "So the guy who jails women for not covering their hair now lectures the West on pay equity. The irony’s richer than any oil field."
One user prompted Grok, the artificial intelligence feature on X, to describe the punishment for defying the hijab under the 86-year-old theocrat.
"Under Iran's 2024 Hijab and Chastity law, women not wearing the hijab face fines from 15 million to 500 million rials ($24–$790), escalating to up to 1.5 billion rials, travel/online bans, and prison up to 5-15 years for repeats," it said.
"Severe cases may invoke the death penalty under 'corruption on earth.' A recent Supreme Leader directive calls for stricter enforcement, though many women continue to defy it."
'Enslaving not liberating'
The nearly 50-year-old system over which Khamenei presides views the veil as an emblem of Islamic identity and chastity.
One of the gravest sins of Western capitalist logic and culture is that they deceitfully label corruption and promiscuity as 'freedom,' he added in another post. "And when they try to spread that culture, they say, 'We're liberating you!' But in fact, they're enslaving people."
Other users cited data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) appearing to confirm an element of Khamenei's assertion.
The bodies found that, adjusted for experience and hours, the gender pay gap in Western countries stands at around 1-4%.
But both the World Bank and the International Labor Organization (ILO) list Iran’s gender pay gap for identical roles at 35%, fueled by laws requiring male guardian permission for women to travel, work or study.
Gender rights record
Users also replied with pre-1979 Islamic Revolution photos of unveiled Iranian women, images of morality police violence and memorials to a young woman named Mahsa Amini whose death in morality police custody stoked mass protests in 2022.
The demonstrations were quashed with deadly force.
Iran ranks 143 out of 146 countries in the latest World Economic Forum Global Gender Gap Report.
Amnesty International has documented systemic gender discrimination in Iran in its 2024 report, including up to 74 lashes for defying hijab rules and frequent impunity for honor killings.
