Women are suppressed in the West, too.

Q. Where in the Muslim world can one see your model of how women should be treated?

A. Let me answer this in another way, nowhere in the world is there a place where women are treated as they should be. Even in America, you have not had a female President, and the number of women in the cabinet is much lower than the number of men. Women are suppressed both in Islamic countries and in the West. But the reason they are suppressed in Islamic countries is not because of religion but because of the patriarchal culture in Eastern countries.

(10 Questions for Shirin Ebadi, Time, May 15, 2006)