There is a plethora of information on how women in many Middle eastern, Asian and African nations are grossly abused. Some are forcibly enslaved in the prostitution industry, many are mutiliated at birth with so-called female circumcision, cutting off the clitoris. Many are forced to hide their beauty, wearing dreary drapes in hot arid climates. women in many of these nations have no property or divorce rights, and abusive husbands are rearely prosecuted for assault.
But, with all this heavy-handedness, I found the following account less drastic, but still a bitter-sweet statement of the burden many women in those lands have to endure:
Tehran, Iran (Persia): In the 1970s, a co-worker of mine had been working as a consultant for an oil company. He, like many Americans, lived on compounds so as not to "infect" the local culture. But, unlike some Islamic nations, Iran was under the Pro-Western secular government of Shah Riza Palavi. So American workers could travel to Tehran and be relatively safe - though were always watched with suspecion by Islamic Shi-ite militants. The majority Sunni Moslems are not that way, and just ignored Americans, French, and others.
He was in a clothing department store, much like a Sears or JC Pennys' looking for some new shirts. He saw an Islamic women searching the dress racks and admiring her happy face at the selections availabe. She saw him, and just smiled, because she, like many women in that part of the world, are not permitted to speak to American men. Eventually he lost sight of her as he went about his own business.
After he bought his shirts and other items, he left the store. He walked to the street corner and waited to cross. While standing there he looked back and saw the women from the department store. She was standing with, and slightly behind her husband also waiting to cross the street. She smiled shyly, and opened her outer robewear, and showed off her new dress with pride. My friend smiled back and nodded in approval. He could she he was pleased with his response, but she quickly had to cover her new dress before her husband discovered her.
Repression: A woman in America buys a new dress and can show it off to female and male friends, husband and others at work or church or wherever. These are small things compared to owning property, voting, freedom of speech, and laws against abuse. Yet, even in such small things, there is much repression, and the women there keep silent, and just wait and hope for the day where they can enjoy things openly as do women in other areas of the world.
Men: Maybe it is a good time to buy your wife something new that she wants, and let her know how beautiful she is, or how a new dress or blouse, or coat looks on her. Let her enjoy the precious open freedom that is a normal feature to the western world, but often denied to so many in other parts of the world. - Amazing