I'm thinking about all the women in afghanistan, who have been told that they are incapable of being part of the new government.
Just as a side note, Margaret Thatcher also wanted a political cabinet full of men.
But let's try to focus this post. In many traditional societies, it seems like men are considered too weak to control their own sexuality. It becomes the responsibility of women to never tempt them by looking pretty. No, you got to hide your stuff. All the modesty rules are designed for women. In Orthodox Judaism, a woman can't even SING outside her family, lest it lead a man astray.
As far as I am aware, in Orthodox Judaism and Islam there are modesty rules for men. I've read that long sleeved shirts are preferred to short sleeved ones in Haredi communities and many Chassidic men would rather swelter in the Israeli heat than take off their religious garb, their long black coats. They're equally barred from being with non-familial women in private, which requires co-operation from both sides.
I also find that men are not weak, as you say, but certainly young men haven't it easy. I find it's just decency to dress in a modest way, but it does more expressly fall on women because men tend to stare more at them than the other way around. Men can be attractive to women, but what seems to be universal experience is that men have the sexual urges worse, and I do believe that women should at least be attentive to this and dress reasonably, even just out of grace and courtesy. A woman wearing revealing clothing is, whether she likes it or not, saying 'Look at me, I'm an invitation.' That's pretty much the whole point of revealing clothing. I'm not saying women can't make an effort to look nice or presentable instead of dowdy, but there are things that are going to get her noticed by men. And especially if she's married, who is she trying to impress with her flowing hair and eye makeup? IMO wearing sultry clothing is degrading to oneself
and others.
And I don't mean to become too graphic here, but many young men, especially now, are suffering with problems of masturbation and porn use. I
can't imagine it's helpful to have to see half-naked women walking around when he's trying his level best to curb any indecent habits he may have, that he's feeling extremely ashamed of and feels he has no-one he can bear talking to about it, then he goes outside and he's confronted by even worse images than the ones he sees in his head. At this point, I don't think his sexual issues are totally his fault, because he lives in a society where he's going, "Ya akhi, my life is ruined! All I want to do is abuse myself and now my friend found all the porn on my phone, what should I do?!" and the response is, "Psh, it's fine, everyone does it." And he feels even more alone and worse, may himself fall into the trap of thinking these things are okay since he's surrounded by them. Thoughts lead to actions and in a frail, oversexualised world those actions are not the actions of decent and religiously inclined people imo.
This is not, imo, the religious way of life. Yes, I fully believe women do need to be aware of what they're doing. And it's also not just for men's sakes. I've found that I've felt much more comfortable after I completely re-invented my wardrobe and now it's full of longer/covering dresses and skirts. At first I disliked girly clothes a lot and wondered what was wrong with me, but then I discovered that there was nothing wrong with me - I just didn't feel comfortable showing off everything except what needs legally covering. Now I buy from Islamic websites and I feel so much better.
I just find this ridiculous. Not only is it grossly unfair to women, laying rules upon us that are impracticle, and even soul-killing, but it treats men as if they have no moral strength. Well I don't accept that. I think men are perfectly capable of, i.e., not raping women who show cleavage.
I don't find them impractical
Sure, most men are capable of restraining themselves from raping women, but it's the thoughts themselves that need to be stopped as well. Covering and sex segregation go a long way to helping both sexes think of better things than sex all day.
I think I agree with the conservative side here.
“Follow not after a woman, and let her not take possession of thy heart."