>can i just add that it was not western cultures who were the
>first to bring equal (almost) rights to women. infact Islam
>brought equal rights to women a long time ago. Islam gave
>women the right to own wealth, divorce, educate themselves,
>and more, long b4 western cultures caught up with this. it
>is perhaps unfortunate that examples like afghanistan give
>Islam a bad name

Could you please be more specific about the examples like Afganistan. What other countries do you have in mind?