Some years back a young middle Eastern couple I knew asked me to take them to the St.Lawrence Market, we started walking, I walked next to him she was  always falling behind, so every so often I would pause and wait for her us...finally the husband said: M. cannot walk alongside me if members of our community saw us , we would be in trouble.......!!!!!!!
Religion had nothing to do with the fact that women were not to be on equal footing with their husband...