Like I said I agree that its wrong that some of these women are forced to wear them or they will be lynched on the streets. And everyone should have at least the basic rights to decide what clothes you are or are not oing to wear. But I still maintian that The media has chosen to use Religious differences as a way to push there own agendas. And part of those religious differences is clothing.

push their own agendas? plz elaborate....

To be fair in a lot of those countries nobody has many rights , not just women.

^ true, but by saying that's their tradition or religion or that they like it doesn't change anything... talk about it... and in this thread we can talk about women.... muslim women, for example... but not only about that... complain about men's rights, if you'd like. but do not say that muslim women like being controlled and forced to merry 40 year old men when they're 18, k?

Im tired of all the extreme feminists there are now. I dont know if this should go in this thread, but they're bugging me so Ill put it in here anyway. It seems as though guys cant do anything any more without being accused of being sexist. Im all for equality and whatever but its a proven fact that guys do some things better than women. Some women are always ready to complain about men getting picked for an engineering job over them, but theyre quick to bring up the fact that women can multi-task better than men.

*Waits for complaints*

One side my family is asian & I know of some arranged marrages.It`s not limited to women or muslims. It`s the parents who arrange the marrages not the bride or the groom.In fact the men in arranged marrages have absolutley no say in it either, so I don`t see how that can be considered sexist. Some are happy to do it because it`s their faith , some are not. There`s nothing male/female in it.

exactly my viewpoint. women are always going to complain of descrimination due to history. but as you correctly said, men do some things better than women and vice versa. some women try to over-glorify their sex by going for archtypal male jobs- but thats fine, its their lives. but yes, back to the point, males basically cant win.

this is so funny,and its no hoax its from the independent-"Analysis of the "X" chromosome - the female sex chromosome - has revealed that women are genetically more complicated than men. The findings reveal that men have taken a genetic battering that has dwindled the size of their own "Y" chromosome...While women have two X chromosomes, men only have one, inherited from their mothers...Scientists showed yesterday that the X chromosome has retained its physical integrity while the Y of men has dwindled in size and power to become a shadow of its former self."

I'd agree with that. You get to a certain age when you realise women do hold all the cards, so you go and buy a shed to escape to.

More seriously, is it fair to consider this issue to be about faith (in the true sense of the word) or cultural pressure? How many of these women believe they are being treated fairly - and to those that do have faith - within the boundaries of their chosen religiion?

I believe a lot of these women are opressed, with the opressors hiding behind the facade of religion. Just because a woman "chooses" (and I use the word loosely) to continue these traditions in an apparently free country, does not mean she is less affected by the same cultural pressures.

There is light at the end of the tunnel for these women though (and I don't mean the US occupation of Iraq): http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4349341.stm

Dave

But without that 'shadow' you`d fail to exist.