Nevertheless, women confronted many obstacles. Perhaps in response to religious opposition to female education there was strict gender segregation among both students and teachers after elementary school (see iii, ix, above). A memorandum on employment of women issued to provincial offices by the Ministry of Education (Wezārat-e maʿāref) on 11 October 1935 encouraged the hiring of female teachers, even for boys’ schools, in the first four grades, on the premise that they would be “more useful and effective” with young children (Wezārat-e maʿāref, p. 89).