Is it relative?
I grab a taxi after work, I go to the 3rd circle in Central Amman and I get off there…before go home I must stop in a shop, buy some arab bread and water, while I am walking towards the shop, a man, with the classical muslim outfit (tunic, sandals, long beard and a little white stitched-hat covering the head) gets off and closes his car, inside, a figure can be guessed. A women, in a burka waits inside. It is more than 40 degrees, the car is off, so no AC working, I keep walking to the shop, the man is inside chating with the people there, without warring about the heat his wife/sister is suffering into the car. I grab my bread and my water and I leave the shop annoyed by the situation, i would love to go into the car, open a window and ask the women…do you think this is right?…however, I am a western, they will tell me that I cannot understand it so I should just keep walking. To avoid that, I just keep walking, glancing at the women and feeling sorry for her. Then I ask myself…. Can we relativize the situation? is it cultural? is it just my western eyes so used to western habits?.
When living in this region the question is always around you, mainly when it comes 
to women-rights. The debate, as usually, is endless and you will find westerns defending the social function of the hijab, muslims considering it as a old-ages symbol of masculine domination and people staring at women because they are not covering their hair.
There is, of course, no right answer to this dilemma, and everybody will think that his/her opinion is actually the right one…so do I. I consider all human beings to be the same, with the same rights, the same capabilities, the same possibilities and the same natural processes; therefore, a labour division based on gender should not be natural. It is obvious that there are some differences between men and women, mainly, women can get pregnat, men cannot (so far…) but apart from that, everything is the same and all the differences are constructed by the society and the culture. These constructions can be adapted and changed to the current time and i will call that evolution. In the concrete case of the hijab, it obviously inhibit the freedom of women. It is argued that it is a tool to avoid harassment, however, the sole responsible for the actions are the actors, and not the one who suffer the actions. In this vein, the sole resposible for the harassment is the man who does it, and no the woman. Think the opposite will be like think that the guilty for a wallet-robbery is the owner of the wallet rather than the thief. Sometimes is also argued that they do to feel more confortable without men looking at them…but again, do we lock our car just without any reason or because we are afraid to leave it open? if it is open, somebody can take but….if we know that nobody will take even if it is open, will the cars still have a locking system? probably no.
However, as I said, this is just my “western” biased-opinion and probably people will have different ones…anyhow, I am still thiking about the woman in the car, her freedom and her choices and I feel somehow sorry for her, but of course, thats only my western-biased eyes….
