Inspired by a recent thread here at Skeptic Ink, I ended up skimming through parts of a detailed Pew Forum study from earlier this year. Some of the results were surprising, some encouraging, but one of them was outstanding inasmuch as it requires me to revise my already negative stereotypes about global Islam even further downward.
Our proverbial dear Muslima has better-than-even odds of finding a husband who does not consider her servile in only three of the nations surveyed, all European.
As to whether the (most likely servile and frightfully obedient) wife should be allowed to opt out of her marital union:
Once again, the European nations are at the top and the Middle East is near the bottom, with Malaysia holding the title of least woman-friendly of all the nations surveyed.
I haven’t met many feminists who espouse cultural relativism with respect to Islam (Pat Condell seems to think this is quite common) but after seeing these numbers, I’m sort of surprised that I’ve ever met even one.
