Sure some of these critics don't see the distinctions within the Muslim world. But even conceding that there are still very serious problems for women in many of these different Muslim countries. Pakistan and Saudi Arabia are not the same but they are both terrible places for women to live in for different but not entirely unrelated reasons.
Sure that's also a fair observation. But there are indeed many credible statistics which suggest that the life of a woman in many Muslim majority countries is uniquely difficult.
I think it's more complicated than that.
Those countries have entirely different gender traditions and norms. The arab/muslim world, from what I've seen and read, isn't conflicted about treating women like objects or property. However, in the West, objectification has become synonymous with "bad" because our culture is built around the agency of the individual. There is no higher desire in the West than individual liberty.
Most other cultures don't operate this way. In most cultures, the highest and noblest desire is preserving the peace and longevity of the society. From this perspective, objectification takes on a different tint. When the goal of the individual is to ensure that they play their role in maintaining familial or societal stability, an object has the easy job of simply maintaining value. As a result, anything that risks devaluing oneself is a crime. Similarly, the role of the agent is also to maintain the object's value.
We talk a lot about how many women aren't satisfued with such gender roles, but what about the men? How many muslim men are satisfied with a life of having to provide sole income in countries with dim economic prospects? Or having to ask to marry a woman without getting to know her? How many muslim men are happy working all day and not getting to spend time with the family they are providing for?
The answer is that it doesn't matter because the individual isn't the most important unit in these societies. Yes, men enjoy agency. But that isn't free. It comes with responsibility and incredible financial and physical risk. Similarly, female objectification comes with numerous benefits, such as low incidence of random violence, no financial responsibilities, and social advantages (such as sitting in front of the bus and not having to wait in line at the bank or dmv).
I'd argue that most people in most societies are generally comfortable conforming to their society's gender roles. That includes women in Muslim cultures. Just because we wouldn't like to be in their position doesn't mean THEY don't like being in their position. Unsurprisingly, most people, men and women, actually don't like having responsibilities, and Muslim women basically get to opt out. That's an incredibly privilege and I wouldn't be surprised if women in the Muslim world reported less dissatisfaction with their lives than women in the West.
It's ironic that Western men don't see this. All of the biggest critics of Feminism point out that female happiness has plummeted since being granted supposed freedom. It also baffles me that American men, whose women have been in a state of near constant protest for over a CENTURY, think that other countries are the ones oppressing their women. Seriously, is there any other country in which women have so publically outraged and dissatisfied for so long? Maybe Iran? India?