Gender seems to play a big role in the way that Islam is perceived both inside and outside the faith. Muslims will generally say (rather fervently) that Islam protects and honors women. Critics of Islam will insist that it is clearly oppressive to women based on disturbing social realities. Why are these two perspectives so hard to reconcile? In this episode, our guest Sitara Akram, in conjunction with Dr. Farhad Shafti and Veronica Polo, dissect these divergent narratives. We touch on controversial topics such as sexual harassment and rape, gender segregation, and the problematic exclusion of women from the field of Qur’anic interpretation.