The mindset of men towards women in the Islamic Arab countries.
I am not to write anonymously about this. And although I am completely aware that this answer may result in many troubles for me, but here I am, an example of an Arab ex-Muslim twenty-year-old girl whose trying to clarify, to some extent, what is happening to women in this part of the world. To be fair, I must note that, of course, every rule has its own exceptions, but I am going to point out to what's common in where I live through what I've seen and heard from incidents and struggles of many Arab women.
Within the walls of their houses.
Husbands do perceive themselves as highly superior than their wives. They forbade them from going outside, they prevent them from having a career, they treat them as slaves who are made solely for raising kids, cooking, and housework. No step is taken if not for the permission of the husband, from buying clothes to going somewhere. A wife's choice, opinion or feeling is never taken into considerations in comparison to that of her husband. It is actually not a story of husbands and wives only, but it is too serious that it reaches brothers and fathers in their relationships with their sisters and daughters. One of my relatives was abused by her own biological father. He prevented her from continuing her studies because he thought she is too pretty for a teenage in her age, so he didn't want her to go outside because men will probably eat her alive.
(And as I am editing my answer after probably more than a year since I wrote it, this cousin of mine is preparing herself for her marriage. Not only she was forced to stay home, but she was also forced to marry someone she has no idea about. She's 16 years old btw.)
Even if both of the husband and wife have duties outside, the big guy never bothers himself to help his wife when they both come back so tired at the end of the day. It’s the woman’s instinctive job to clean his clothes, make the bed, wash the dishes, prepare the dinner, and look out for literally everything including the kids and their endless demands. You know, she’s just a woman; she really doesn't have much to offer except for doing this. Society deemed him superior and religion deemed him so as well, why not seizing the golden chance anyway?
Religion gave the husband the right to marry four woman at once rather than one.
Religion asked the woman to cover herself from hair to toe becaue, you know, her hair is so tempting along with every single spot in her body. This has created nothing but oppression.
Religion indicates that if women pray, never have sex except with the husband, and serve the big guy well, then they just got themselves a one way ticket to heaven. Ha! Religion never pointed out that women are capable of much more than that, like where is her brain? Her strength? Her patience? Her success? Her arts? Her intellect? Where is everything else that's not about sex or spending the whole day between four walls under the surveillance of the big brother for god's sake?
In the streets:
You know, I never feel comfortable when I am outside. How can I be where I am catcalled in a very disrespectful way every time I walk across a guy or a bunch of guys! How can I be and society still perceives me as a mere sexual object who has to cover herself up. Men in here are sexually malfunctioning because well, it's very expensive to get married these days and no sex before marriage is allowed. Their mission in the streets is nothing but to abuse both verbally and physically those innocent girls who pass by them. A lot to be heard and endured out there. Huh.
Her voice shouldn't be loud, her walk should be of a specific way, and it is not very good nor respectful when she laughs.
She's a bit** if she talks to somebody in the streets. Girls should never talk to boys. She must not accompany a man expect for her father, brothers or husband.
She mustn't ever think of having a boyfriend, she is to roast in hell.
Do not fall in love, it's a shame. Don't masturbate, only men do this. It is true we are defined as sexual objects, but we are never seen as sexual creatures; why would she masturbate! She does’t have the natural tendency for that.
She mustn't wear very colorful clothes, it may attract poeple and we don't want that.
The list has still a lot more to offer though, but you got my idea.
At work:
Men are much more intelligent than we, therefore, It is their mission to enjoy a career. never us.
Women can never be a President in an Islamic country. She cannot handle it, her abilities are way weaker than running a house let alone leading a whole country.
Politician women are considered to be some other sort of bit** because well, they have opinions and something to defend. They have something to look for other than prayers or having sex with their husbands.
You cannot be you. You cannot behave spontaneously. There are always boundaries.
That's what what frustrates me the most. This is what kills me the most. And, what I have said was never a call for some sort of a crazy feminism attack. I am not asking for nudity, or that men do housework, or that men quit their jobs and stay home so that we enjoy all the freedom to ourselves (though the idea seems tempting haha).
All I am asking for is to understand that women are HUMAN BEINGS, and that they should be treated just accordingly, nothing much.
I am also aware that the west has already, to some extent, got over the obstacles of this absolute sexism since about a century ago. But unfortunately, we are here, in North Africa and the middle East still struggling in a way you could never imagine. And the problem is that women themselves aren't aware of the cage that's surrounding them.
It sometimes gets unbearable that it feels hopeless.
I don't know how to face it. I honestly don't know..