Mosques, despite being central institutions of worship for all worshippers, are not available to women on equal terms with men in Iran, as elsewhere in the Muslim world. Women are allocated a peripheral space separate from the main hall and must use a side entrance. They may listen to the sermons of male preachers delivered from the pulpit in the main hall and follow the prayers of the male prayer-leaders relayed over loudspeakers. Female religious specialists, however, are not permitted to act …