Sometimes we hear news that makes us question our faith in the opposite sex. This is one of those times.

The captain of the Iranian women’s soccer team isn’t traveling to Malaysia to compete in an big indoor championship next week because…her husband won’t let her.

RELATED: Why This Women's Soccer Player Got Naked for ESPN The Magazine's Body Issue

Niloufar Ardalan, who is considered the best female soccer player in Iran, doesn’t have a passport because her husband refused to sign papers to allow her to renew it, The Washington Post says, per local Iranian reports. Oof.

Niloufar, who is 30 freaking years old BTW, is married to sports journalist Mahdi Toutounchi, who should (maybe?) know better.

Under Iranian law, a husband has the right to keep his wife from leaving the country—because she isn’t his equal, obviously.

But Mahdi must have a really, really good reason for being so controlling, right? That’s up for debate. He says he didn’t want Niloufar to miss their 7-year-old son’s first day of school, which falls in the middle of the championship.

Apparently sharing parenting responsibilities isn't a common tactic used in the Ardalan-Toutounchi household.

Niloufar isn't just letting this go, however. She’s calling on Iranian politicians to revise the country’s laws about allowing women to leave the country.

“These games were very important to me,” she told the publication Nasimonline (via news.com.au). “As a Muslim woman, I wanted to work for my country’s flag to be raised [at the games] rather than traveling for leisure and fun.” (Although, it’s worth pointing out that if she wanted to travel for kicks, that should be her prerogative, too.)

“I wish authorities would create [measures] that would allow female athletes to defend their rights in such situations,” says Niloufar.

Mahdi should have known he was playing with fire. Niloufar has reportedly been a longtime advocate for women’s rights in Iran. She publicly petitioned Iran’s soccer governing body to be allowed to attend the Iranian men’s national team match against North Korea in 2005—and won. (Iranian women are typically banned from attending male sporting events.)

RELATED: Get a Peek Behind-the-Scenes at the Women's World Cup

But because the law is the law, Niloufar won’t be playing with her team next week.

Here’s hoping Mahdi’s editor gives him some really crappy assignments in the future as a result.