The Middle East Compared to... The Middle East

In reading the prologue to The Nine Parts of Desire I found it interesting that there are such extreme differences in woman's rights even in direct bordering countries. It talked about how in Pakistan they were the first to elect a woman prime minister, but in countries like Saudi Arabia women are oppressed and infinitely disrespected. "In Saudi Arabia’s neighboring state, the united Arab emirates, Muslim women soldiers, their hair tied back in Islamic veils, jump from helicopters and shoulder assault rifles. a little farther, across the Persian gulf, the strict Muslims of Iran vote women into parliament"- page 5. Again, I learned something that I had no idea about, I will be the first to admit i know very little about middle Eastern countries, and as ignorant as it sounds I thought most were relatively the same but as I have come to realize through reading this book so far, and this passage for Nine Parts of Desire, I have come to learn that no, the Middle East is not basically just one big country, but in a lot of cases Middle Eastern countries are different from other Middle Eastern countries like we are different from say, England or a European country. AM