Well, let’s put it this way: for the women who don’t volunteer for beatings and subjugation in our society, the law will protect them and is on their side. In majority Islamic societies or communities, not so much.
I'm not saying this to get Islam as such off the hook: almost 1400 years of Sharia jurisprudence support woman-beating, to this very day. I'm just saying there's a lot of cultural latitude.