Teacher cuts pupil's hair, mum files police report

So Islamic women wearing a Hijab is conforming to rules (religious in this case), and therefore they are backwards?

Yeah, that is pretty backwards, by current civilization's standards. Islam in general is a very patriarchal religion; while it has some good aspects, the way they treat women is not one of them. And no, I'm not referring to the "slowing of progress" that you are talking about, some progress is bad and some is good, that happens to be progress that would be good if it took place; they are slowly working towards more rights for women over there, and that's good. I'm not a Muslim female, but I can't think of any reason why they would be happy with their societal status that has existed since the formation of the religion. No real upside to being an object and not an individual, you know?