>I don't know if this is true, but I thought I heard that they can punish a woman for "excessively" moving her hips while walking.
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>>....I suppose I would be living in an all male society if they had laws like that here in Ft. Liquordale.

I am not sure about all the details, but the situation of women's rights is very problematic in Iran. Just the fact that women have to wear a veil says a lot about the conditions over there.

The situation was actually more open, for a while, before the Islamic Revolution - but the Islamic Revolution brought back the barbaric customs of the past.

The following happened in 1848, during a conference of Bábís (i.e., believers in the Báb)... (The conference was historic, in the sense that at that time, it became clear to many believers that the Báb had actually founded a new religion, with its own laws, and not just a reform movement within Islám, as many had assumed previously.)

So, it happened that a certain woman, Tahirih, went into a meeting, without using a veil. This shocked some of the believers so much, that one of them tried to cut his throat. (I don't remember whether the attempted suicide was successful.)