I can contribute by giving you the example of Turkey. Following the establishment of Republic, we were secularized and the Islamic identity of the community took a blow. Turks internalized Islam so much that sometimes it is hard to understand where religion ends and customs starts or vice versa. They are mended together. Today, people do most of what they do out of tradition, but whenever Islam offers them a good excuse they never hesitate to spoil it of course. This is of course most obvious in case of women because of the obvious male dominance.
But what we observed here in Turkey is that, the more we got away from Islamic identity the better our conditions got due to the lessening of excuses to be used. Since we weren't governed with Sharia, there was no religious pressure from the top-mind the exceptions of various other forms of repression -- but yet there is the usual pressure stemming from the cliche male point of view tangled with traditions; for ex; when a husband beats his wife, she can of course go to the police, and people do so and government offers shelter but it is also not unusual to come across situations in which the policemen stand behind for not interfering a family matter or trying to convince the woman not to file a complaint saying: " oh he is your husband, he loves and then he beats, this is normal Driving, school was never banned to women here, Turkish women have the most freedom compared to other fellow Muslim women in the world on a governmental level, the society is more fair to women too (Turkish men have a tendency to spoil their women hehe:D) but they are too abused, beaten, bullied, prevented from for ex. education. The amount of women in such conditions is not minor, and it is mostly observed in rural areas, villages, among the less educated etc. but cities and urban women aren't excluded either.
So since we have access to education, internet, books, working and so on (on paper and law we have equal rights with men on every aspect), women are becoming more and more conscious of their rights and wishes. They see the good examples and demand the same. I have witnessed so many women in my own extended family who have educated men into being more decent guys who respect the wish of their women both religiously and socially; they even managed to transform some of those logs into romantic men who brings a bouquet home every week
. Some did this by affection, communication, some did this in nasty ways but they did it. Blood runs strong in the women of my family
Sorry I never can keep it short and simple. So here is my suggestions on what can be done:
1- Try to raise awareness both in women and men through various means such as media, or one o one sessions if need be. I say in women too, because there are many women who seem to be liking their lives as slaves. They are brainwashed, we should let hem know that there are better options out there. In men because I have seen some men to stop their stupid behaviors after realizing that what they do was wrong.
2- As Berb says it also includes -in some countries it is the major party in action-- fight against the religion, which is a very very tough one. Since we cant eliminate this retarded religion --not yet anyways - then we must help to make it softer. For ex. we should support the moderate imams, mullas etc and train more like them. That way we can at least lessen the burden on women. Again an ex. from Turkey. The number of imams, scholars who argue things like wearing pants, shaking hands are ok in Islam have increased significantly, thus more people started to think the same way. My mom for ex. doesn't dislike --not that she never forced me- pants anymore cos a respected scholar said so. There are men who stopped beating their wives after some imam told him there is no beating in Islam. People follow imams, mullas more than the Quran itself. There are many people who never read Quran but learned and lived his Islam according to what some imam told him or her.
3- We have debate with women and tell them how Islam treats them. The better they know the truth of Islam the better they will be with lessening or cutting all bonds with Islam and then better the next generations will be since moms raise the children. So generation after generation, maybe our grandchildren can live in a society free of religious tyranny :(
Sorry for the length
Topic: Women's liberation in the Muslim world-- strategic considerations