I picked that up from an Iranian woman. Perhaps she was speaking generally about Moslem women.

McGrath - I find those statistics to be quite vague. 47% enter post secondary. How many finish? How many men and how many women? The 60% literacy rate does not tell us how many men and how many women, either. Nor does it differentiate between faunctional literacy and critical literacy.

Just because you can read an advertisement, street sign or bank book doesn't necessarily mean you can or will read the Koran.

I am assuming (perhaps, incorrectly) that many women in Iraq and the middle east, generally, listen to the edicts of the religious leaders rather than interpret the teachings of the Koran on their own. Its probably much the same for Christianity and Judaism or any religion.

I will try to word my inquiry more carefully.

If the U.S. is successful in bringing democracy to Iraq, what will they do about freedom of religion? What will they do about women's rights?