I am very grateful for the reply! I see what you mean about the treatment of women in a heavily patriarchal society.
Equality is a fascinating subject overall & you are right I have never physically left Europe & my experience is limited to what I have seen with my own eyes. Even between nations here there are enormous differences.
I live in the UK & for a time I lived in rural Spain. I was stunned to discover that women in my age group there had not been educated, even as far as reading & writing! However, the way that their family life was structured preserved the medieval & in some ways I saw it's advantages.
Women there were matriarchs & respected in that way. Younger women in Spain are fiercely feminist & highly educated.
I have read books written by Indian, Afghani & Chinese women & the struggles they are experiencing seem to create astonishing strong characters from what I can see.
In the UK we have every type of immigrant imaginable & that provides us with some insight into the way that different cultures work.
I love them all very much because they bring to us new skills & knowledge, an appreciation of our own circumstances & insight into where we go wrong.
One thing that strikes me about the Indian women we have here is their femininity. They have influenced the UK significantly with their love of ornament & colour but most particularly with their academic achievements.
We have a long way to go before we dispense with patriarchy completely, despite all our efforts!
Onwards!