Arpita Mukherjee I commend you for addressing these common misconceptions regarding Arab women I am confused by one thing. Firstly, why did you choose to use a picture of Michael Jackson in a niqab for this article? I’ll assume that you were not aware of this 2006 incident in Bahrain where Michael was spotted wearing Muslim womens clothing or that it was just a tongue in cheek reference to your title.

Reality is always hidden behind the veil. To know the truth we have to lift the veil.

Asalaamu Alykum wa rahmatullah,

Thank u so much for this article, I am happy to see someone is finally speaking about the myths and unfair alegations against Islamic dress. Masha’Allah keep up with the good work.

hahaha, it was michal Jackson!!!! ok, I have a question. In the rest of the world woman can go anywhere and do anything they want and 99% of the time, they are perfectly safe doing it. So why would a Muslim woman never be safe from Muslim men? It seems that only the ones in the vails live in fear.

I lived in both Yemen and Saudi and the men require their women to cover their face when they go out, just so other men do not talk badly about her.

Believe me Arab men will say that a woman is a whore if she even looks at him. In Yemen she is a whore if she goes out shopping alone. and it goes on and on and it gets worse! Believe me in these two countries the veil has nothing to do with Islam......

Infact in Medina and Mecca’s Harem (place of prayer)the women are required to remove the face covering and show their faces!

Soooo you see the veil is forced on alot of women because of mens needs. My god if you walked in yemen without it, expect guys trying to touch you or expect getting stones thrown on you. How is that about religion? You actually have to live it to understand the pain arab women are feeling in so many countries. Lets put it this way....you cannot get a divorce in Yemen or Saudi without alot of money and you will always have to live with a family member that is male to protect your status. Single women in arab countries live with their parents until marriage because of why? because of the sexism, not because of religion. Oh i could go on and on. but i think you get the point.

oh and about women tending school...In Yemen men will often remove their girls from school very early just so they will have a better chance of marriage...

Listen very carefully girls this is serious.........

I know many arab men that prefer a village women to an educated woman just so she will be a happier person in their marrage and easily accept his treatment of her not knowing any other way!

Don’t ever take this lightly! You are damaging our childrens future and Arab men will never change the way they think if not forced to.

Look at the US, Blacks got the right to vote before women. but women there have been fighting strong against sexism for a long time. The arab nation can change to but the women have to fight for the change..........

I guess the status of the general Arab women are much better than that of developing countries and in some matters developed countries. Take for example the most radical country Saudi Arabia. Women enjoy much higher standards of living and has access to the best of healthcare. In contrast, 'liberated' women in skimpy shorts and tank-tops in the West don't have the kind of 'social' security and have to struggle for a livelihood, fight abuse of various kinds etc.

The Arab woman is far, far better than what one might imagine. Since the culture is such that women are required to cover their bodies from head to toe and deprived of various rights as enjoyed by the Arab male, non-Muslim countries especially the West thinks of them as being nothing more than domesticated animals, which is pure nonsense.

It is their culture. It is not a myth. I read a book called Princess by an anonymous Saudi girl from the Saudi royal family. She gave a horrific account on how girls are treated and abused in all forms behind the curtains.

It is partially a myth and partially not. It depends on which country you are in. If you are in Egypt or Syria you would find women with equal rights with men. However if you go to Saudi Arabia, you would find women deprived of even driving rights.

myth? sez who??? we all are aware what happens to the women in arabia. they are treated like slaves...... and what not. raped, beaten, no rights nothing...... this is 100% true and be the truth be told.

you all are just plain stupids who believe such rubbish.

The Arabs are anything but humans. They can never ever evolve into a civilized population unless they give full and equal rights to their women. Else they would always be dependent upon other countries for knowledge.

Complete lie. It is just what you called it - a myth. It is nothing but Western propaganda to malign the Arabs so that they are isolated. Once that happens they hope that they will be pressurized to abandon their culture and adopt Western culture. That way getting oil would be easier for them.

samira - Western propaganda? you sound like an extremist trying to find blame in the new arab society. Have you watched arab tv in the past 20 years? most arab music videos would be banned in the states for sexual content. Arabs abandoned their culture 100 years ago. SEXISM in the middle east is the problem. I honestly dare you to disobey a male figure in your family...then lets see how happy you are.

Yemeni! can you stop saying that our women have NO rights!? so what if thier vieled do you want us to make them go naked on beaches and get raped like in America?! Well we do not like it we respect our women and they respect us so dont keep saying that they are upset because they are happy with thier vieles and are doing it for Allah. SO PLEASe mind your own buissness our women are happier than you because they have a proper life they do not have sex with people you call boyfriends! IF YOU THINK WOMEN RIGHTS IS WALKING AROUND NAKED YOU ARE W.R.O.N.G

Ahmed, I lived in Saudi Arabia and Yemen for most of my life, I speak from reality. And if you compare western women and their boyfriends, then......

I will let the rest of the world know what arab taxi drivers already know! Women of arabia veil but many still have sex with strangers, taxi drivers, and boyfriends. Get a clue! If you want to know that truth go talk to a taxi driver and just see how many arab women veil because of religion......

There are thousands of medical operations a year in Egypt that sew the woman back up just so she will look like a virgin again when she gets married.

Now go read about honor killings and education yourself.

I repeat veils protect the mans dignity not the womans!

They have no rights
The are not free to decide about their lives
They have no choice, they get married, locked up into the house and make babies
They are hold like animals in a zoo
They have to hide their brain
If the speak out they get punished
They cannot decide anything on their own, they are slaves of their husbands, brothers and family
They cannot travel by themselves, they need the agreement of a male for anything
They cannot drive cars
They live under male terror, because arab men don’t respect women, arab men treat women like animals
They are like slaves

Arab women have only those rights which are granted to them by their men. hose from affluent families have more rights than others due to a variety of reasons.

that’s michael jackson u I!!!!s