I'm usually not short of words, but this time I really can't think of anything to say.
Reminds me of the poor women in India and Bangladesh who are disfigured from having acid thrown in their face.
Correction-that happens in Pakistan:
http://www.pakistan-facts.com/article.php?story=20030605215543338
Oh, btw, had a brief but insightful conversation with an Arab the other day. My wife had had noticed all the local Arab men wear white, and the women wear black, and asked me why.
The guy I asked was dressed like most of them, in pure white ghutra (apart from the iqal (the fanbelt around his head), and had his wife (at least one of them) in tow slightly behind him who was in fullback abayya, as many women in the Gulf States wear. I had heard this was just "tradition" before, but wanted to get to the historical roots of it, and wondered if he had a different take.
At first, he just came out with the standard "tradition" reply, but when pushed as to the significance of the colors for dress, he replied to me (in a thick accent) "You [should] understand, white is the color of purity, it is clean, you understand?"
So naturally I asked why the women (in their male dominated society) traditionally did not wear white, but black instead.
Sensing I was setting him up and he was falling into the trap head first, he quietly muttered a minor arabic curse word under his breath, and walked off.
Quran:
Narrated 'Aisha:The things which annual prayer were mentioned before me (and those were): a dog, a donkey and a woman. I said, "You [Mohammad] have compared us (women) to donkeys and dogs.