Muslim women alienated by U.S. values push

Muslim women alienated by U.S. values pushWASHINGTON -- Muslim women are potentially important allies in the war on terrorism, but the United States must avoid pushing Western values to win their support, according to data presented yesterday at the Gallup Organization. The Bush administration has promoted women's rights throughout the Muslim world to gain support in the region, especially in Iraq and Afghanistan. But a worldwide Gallup project found that many Muslim women are not as concerned about changing their status as Westerners might think. In Lebanon and Turkey, 9 percent to 11 percent of women said sexual inequality was a major problem, but negligible concern about the issue was found elsewhere. Jordanian women did not mention it when asked what aspects of society they disliked, and 2 percent of women cited the issue in Egypt and Morocco. Far more often, Muslim women were worried about the same things as Muslim men -- lack of unity, extremism and political corruption.

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