A scholar for a conservative women's organization says it's outrageous that American feminists like Hillary Clinton aren't speaking out about how Muslim women in the United States are treated.
Authorities in Phoenix recently arrested a 50-year-old Iraqi woman who reportedly padlocked her daughter to a bed for violating the family's Islamic values. They claim the mother scorched the young woman with a hot spoon for refusing an arranged marriage. The 19-year-old girl's father was also arrested for allegedly striking his daughter after she was seen talking to a man outside her high school.
These incidents follow a high-profile Arizona murder case involving another Iraqi immigrant convicted of running down his daughter in a Phoenix parking lot in 2009 in a so-called "honor killing."
Julie Gunlock, a senior fellow with the Independent Women's Forum (IWF), wonders where the feminist outrage is.
"They absolutely should be all over this. They should be talking about this," she contends. "I believe they're too busy providing free birth control. Unfortunately, they're missing some really important human rights stories like this one."
She laments that feminists seem to have bought into the idea that opposing anything Muslim is politically incorrect.
"Frankly, the political correctness when it comes to Islam doesn't just stop with feminists; this whole country is afraid to offend the Muslim community," Gunlock offers. "Certainly if we're going to be silent on people beating their daughters and then hiding behind their religion, that’s a travesty."
But as the IWF senior fellow points out, no one has the religious right to beat his or her daughter.