Isaac,

".. in many Asian cultures (especially in the rural areas of countries such as Nepal), women are seen as little more than farm animals--completely utilitarian baby-making machines with no real capacity for intelligent thoughts."

In Nepal, women are treated badly, no defending that, but it has been like that in all societies including American and European. I wonder how many women in American Deep South work now (most of them I met were not working)? When Andrew Jackson asked for equality among all , he was asking for white men--not women, not black male-- and it has been somewhat like that until very recently . But societies are transforming, and currently, Nepal has more women parliamentarians than the USA.

In Nepal--women are actually worshipped too, no? You can't even kill female animal. I have been struck by the narration of war during Nepal's unification era:  Nepali soldiers never killed women or cows or a child according to a report and in fact, they prided in defending them. when Moslems attacked India, they raped women discriminately and targetted children born from them for conversion. When Christians invaded USA, they killed women and children of Red Indians. Women were not spared in notorious holocaust. White women never had it easy; they were accused of being witches and burnt in Europe and America. They started to get jobs only after labor shortage of industrial societies, and even now, their is wage differential. So all societies have their bias against women. If you think Asians can be particularly viewed as such, perhaps you need to disabuse yourself.