Quite often in several societies across the globe, one finds that the oppression of women and minorities is often linked with the practice of religion. Which makes it all the more baffling when those same oppressed people do their best to defend the very establishment oppressing them.

A woman in Saudi Arabia is discovering the hard way the deep, internalised misogyny of that country, as she’s sentenced to death for committing adultery. Process that, death for adultery, in the 21 st century.

The woman in question is a 45 year old Sri Lankan woman, who works in Riyadh as a maid. She committed the ‘offence’ with a single man, also Sri Lankan- who for his iniquity got one hundred lashes to be administered to him.

This kind of treating women as lesser beings is legitimised in many places in the Quran, and with the strength of religion behind them a lot of countries maltreat women- whether through such cases or on a day by day basis in cultures that have deeply internalised these teachings. The case of Malala is a classic example- a girl who nearly got assassinated merely for having the guts to get an education.