Sometimes it helps to read the article....
You may be correct in that the article was ginned up a bit, but every question you posted was in the article...
One of the things my husband always said about the middle easterners is about their version of the TRUTH.
1. THEY consider truth like a precious gem, to be guarded, hidden away, NOT blasted out for the world to see.
2. He also noted that their logic in NO WAY resembles ours.
3. Their media, both written and electronic, LIES even more and worse than ours does. It was so annoying because so many people think that if it's WRITTEN or REPORTED in the media, it MUST be the truth. Pah!
If you keep those three things in mind about middle easterners, whether they are Christian or Muslim, Arab or Persian, you will understand their minds better. Not that you want to.
The folks over there, like everywhere else on this planet, have been fighting with each other over the FOUR SCARCE RESOURCES (sociological mainstays of humanity) since the beginning of the human race:
Some things never change. Women over there have as much POWER as their families do.
THERE they are who their FAMILY is. If their families are wealthy, powerful and have much status, then their women have the same.
If they are from poor, weak families, then their status is the same. That includes the MALES of the families.
HERE you are what you DO.
God bless America.