My paper concentrates on women-only concerts of Iranian classical music in Tehran in order to examine female musicians’ conflicting attitudes towards performing in these homosocial spaces. Originating in the late 1990s (DeBano 2005), these concerts work within the boundaries of state-sanctioned gender segregations and offer exclusive performance opportunities to female vocalists who are banned from singing solo for mixed-gender audiences. Furthermore, they present viable financial options during a sharp decline in Iran’s music industry. Nevertheless, most female musicians, singers and instrumentalists alike, criticize these concerts, arguing that they create an illusion of a free performance space yet intensify the state-mandated gender segregation. Moreover, female instrumentalists, who can perform for the mixed-gender audiences, also contend that the controlled condition of these concerts, which forbids any audio or visual recording, prevents performers from showcasing their musical and technical mastery to their audiences beyond the concert hall. Hence, they prefer performing for mixed audiences, which could better contribute to their musical reputation. Building on my recent fieldwork in Tehran, my investigation of Iranian female musicians’ contrasting attitudes towards women-only concerts sheds light on the intersections of gender, economy, and musical authority in Iran. It further expands the ethnomusicological studies of women-only musical endeavours (e.g. Sandstrom 2000; DeBano 2009; Hayes 2010) and argues that although these concerts could noticeably contribute to women’s financial stability and independence, the refusal of female vocalists and instrumentalists to participate in these homosocial spaces becomes a source of empowerment.