I used to think of things mostly in the same way you do (I was born and raised in the US) but working in the Middle East definitely made me see things from their point of view as well. For example, the fact that you had "to work to survive" would not sit well with many Muslim women. The women I spoke to there expect to be taken care of by their men. I realized that we have very different ideas on the concept of work and careers. Over here work is seen as something good that leads to self-actualization. This is a product of our capitalistic society. Over there work is seen a burden, and instead the path to self-actualization goes through religious and family life. Men are expected to take on the burden of work to bring home a paycheck so that women can be free to immerse themselves in things like religion and family. It's a different perspective on things and I found it very interested when the women there described it to me like this.

A lot of Muslim women are frankly appalled at the amount of sexuality in Western culture. After spending many years there and coming back to the US a couple years ago I actually went through a bit of a culture shock myself. You really start to wonder why women need to be naked on billboards just to grab your attention for a split second so that you remember a certain product or company. I understand that women should have the choice to do that and I believe women have every right to pursue careers in modelling and stuff like that but it is definitely a little appalling to outsiders how we glorify sexuality to such an extreme level. Women are expected to be proud sexual creatures, men are expected to drool and hand over their money, and the corporations expect to keep making profits.