In any country, there are laws, and for most people, there is an obligation to obey the State as well as to adhere to specific religious commands. In some countries, there is minimal mixing of religious with secular law, whereas in other countries, there is a commingling of such. In most of the western nations, the battle for woman's suffrage and equal rights is for all practical purposes over, with women now standing as co-equals with men. This, in itself, is both a great advancement for women as well as for mankind, which is richer for having recognized that women both deserve their voice as well as their place at the table of life.
However, human progress is never exactly easy, nor necessarily linear, nor do all societies see things in the same manner or same way. In recent years, we have seen the increase of Islamic fundamentalists that have made it part and parcel of their religious belief and way, that women must conform to certain rules within their society or suffer the consequences for their disobedience to such. The seriousness and severity that Islam takes in regards to their task of what women can and cannot do within their family, within their community, and within their country is not something to be brushed aside as of no real importance to those not of the faith, or not residents of such country, but should instead concern all of us, because we are all members of the same world.
Life is full of restrictions and punishments, in any country, and in any religion, to which the fact that these things exist, is because countries and communities are made up of laws. Ideally, those laws are just, equally applied, and in accordance with natural law, but too often they are arbitrary, capricious, and wrong. There are two sexes in this world, and one sex should not be allowed to run riot over the other, as if one sex, by innate order, has dominion over the other.
There are many ways to insist that one person should have power over another, such as through divine revelation, scriptural interpretation, manmade law, tradition, power, strength, and fear, but this does not mean that this is right or in accordance with justice. The problem that many Islamic States have and that the communities and families of such have at the present day, is the wrong belief, that somehow their interpretation, their law, their rules, and their commands, are sanctioned by the prophet or of God, himself. It is always rather convenient to be both the lawmaker as well as the law interpreter, to which all sorts of mischief can be accomplished under these false flags.
The thing is, it comes down to this fundamental fact, that life moves too fast for certain peoples in the world today, and consequently because of that fear they want to turn back the sands of time, and thereby to control certain things as if their judgments were sacrosanct, but they are not. This mistaken belief, taken to the extreme, means that incertain countries or communities, women must be "protected" by restricting their movements, by eliminating their clothing choice, by taking their right to an education away from them, by monitoring them day and night, and ultimately in practicality, doing and thinking for them.
This is oppression, pure and simple, for some perhaps the cage that they are in, is gilded, for many it most certainly is not. Whichever it is, and however it turns out, the caged bird will sing, and its song must and will be heard.