[The_Reader_David]

The women’s rights movement began during the Middle Ages in this region, when pioneers worked to improve the status of women in Islamic nations during early Islamic reforms.

They didn't get very far. The really sad thing is that the treatment of women under Islam *is* an improvement over their treatment under Arabian paganism, but a massive step backwards from their treatment under Orthodox Christianity as practiced in the Eastern Roman Empire. I'm not sure whether it's better or worse than under Zoarastrianism--I suspect it's worse.

[autumnraine]

Not really. Under Zoroastrianism, male and female children are treated equally. Under LAWS in Iran (where most are and originated from as being the religion of Persia before Islam), they are treated poorly, but the religion itself is a religion that believes in both a male and female deity.