Islam, as it is written down by Mohammed, was *radically* feminist for the times, and still is compared to the Christian Bible or Jewish religious writings. Many American women ARE converting to Islam for many of those pro-female points of view, and Islam as practiced in the US is pretty liberal.

Yet, as a general rule, Jewish and Christian women have more rights and priviledges than women in predominantly Muslim countries, which they achieved through social changes and law, not religion. It's not true overall though -- in Iraq, where there is a secular government, women have equal priviledges under the law, and prior to 1991 were getting the same educations and getting paid the same wages as men.

It's pretty much only in places where there are fundamentalist governments that women are oppressed. Most Christian fundamentalists aren't exactly kind to women either, and their views can be fully justified by the Bible -- although IMO Jesus' attitude toward women was pretty feminist, too. And bride-burnings and honor killings are still common in India, despite it being technically illegal.

A profound argument for keeping religion in the home and out of government.