the people who are mentioned in this article are HINUS not muslims ,and yet every one seems to blame islam for unequal rights
islam has respect for wemen .There is a chapter in the koran named after the wemen ,there is also another chapter in the koran is named after mary [jesus mother]
islam also gave the right for woman to divorse the man ,get educated ,be a politician [the same rights as men]
In islam ,the groom offers the dowary to the bride [not vise versa ]because the bride is considered a precious thing

sarah, mancherster ,

It is unfortunate that such thinking prevails in UK also be'coz it is not considered that bad in US/Canada.

BNGoyal, Vaishali, Ghaziabad - 201010, India

TO rah, nikki and jayil,

Don't hijack comments threads that have nothing to do with Islam with your views on Muslims and "Islamic World".
The unfortunate and heartbreaking termination of female foetuses is not only restricted to Muslim parents, this sex selection is just as prevalent in Hindu and Sikh communities.

The idea of the female child being worth less than male children is due the practise of Dowry being bestowed on the woman when she marries. Men on the other hand stay in the family home and should become the bread winner for the family. This is why babies are being aborted, not because the family is Muslim.

Jane McTavish, Slough,

Rah -

Girls in india are killed because of cultural reasons (as sad as it is) and on that note society in india is completely different to the West, these happen laregly within married couples.

Islam IS oppressive to women - it might not kill them but it doesnt allow the same rights as men. despite women being equal to men in the eyes of God.

You mention that women are easy to coerce - id like to point out that SOME women are, not all. And perhaps more importantly than all of this - you fail to mention the men that make their wives cover themselves up head to toe so that other men do not leer at them, while alot of muslim men out there in the "terrible" west are sleeping with other women and committing adultery. This happens so regularly that the islamic community turns a blind eye towards it!

yet if a woman did the same....her life is not worth living.

nikki, london, uk

Re women and children remember actions speak louder than words.

o- India has killed 50 million + girls in the last 50 years (UN)
o- China has killed 50 million + girls in the last 50 years (UN)
o- US has killed 44 million girl and boys from 1974 till today

Yet who is considered oppressive to women and children? Islam and Muslim countries.

In the west men are free. Free to after any women they want. The women are free (a nice dinner and sweet talk)
And the resulting children are free to be killed before they are born.

Amid this cacophony of mass murder, never imagined even by the worst of Nazi’s, Islam is called oppressive, demeaning, unfair and inequitable.

rah, la, us

This story is very disturbing indeed. It's amazing how westerners want to 'liberate' women from the Islamic world and there is nothing being done at all, where a whole people's (hindus) customs are inferior to females. In India thousands of new born girls are murdered every month by their own parents, some are even buried alive. Sociologists blame such killings on a widely held Indian belief that girls are an economic drain because families still have to pay expensive dowries at the time of their marriage. I can't see how this applies to British Indians, most are fairly well-off in UK.

jayil, london, uk

So where will the girls to marry the sons of such women come from?

Chris, Birmingham,