Has Islam Really Enslaved Woman?

one of the common misconceptions in the west is that islam calls for enslaving woman. muslim woman who wears hijab is usually depicted as the one who always follows man and cannot decide for herself. according to this cliché, arab woman is a part of harem, a belly dancer or a sexual object and in all cases, she is depicted as deprived of all her rights. some western media and entities have been depicting muslim woman as dependent on, follower of and under the mercy of man as if she were a property he owns. moreover,  this ungrounded and miserable situation is attributed to islam which is falsely rendered as a religion whose instructions make woman below man, turn her into a mere follower, and give man more privileges and rights. they mention some examples from arab world where woman is not allowed to drive but they ignore that one sect in usa in the twenty first century forbids its female followers to touch the steering wheel. we shall know more details about this sect later. the fact is that if we study the situation of woman in other societies before and after the emergence of islam, we would easily discern the multiple privileges and rights islam provided to woman at a time when no other society did the same. many of those who fought islam in the arab peninsula at the beginning ridiculed and blamed islam for giving woman the right for inheritance. before we detail the stand of islam regarding woman, let us first know the status of woman in other societies and religions.