Lankarani believed strongly in the separation of sexes and opposed President Ahmadinejad's declaration that women have the right to attend soccer matches at stadiums despite the fact that they would see male soccer players. He "famously refused for weeks" to meet with President Ahmadinejad in early 2007 after the president attempted to open soccer events to women. Lankarani was also staunchly opposed to Iran joining CEDAW. When the parliament (the Iranian Majles) was going to debate the signing and ratification of CEDAW, he announced that joining CEDAW and moving toward gender equality would contradict Islamic values.