Some nice summary being done here:
http://www.studytoanswer.net/myths_ch9.html
http://www.answering-islam.org/Women/index.html
Yeah yeah, I know it is a Christian website posting these texts. But what I have read over there about Islam, matches what I know about it, so i would be stupid to skip it just becasue I do not like the messenger eventually (I haven't checked the latter - callme a pragmatic atheist then

)
The book "Allahs Schleier" that I linked above probably is the best on the role of women and their meanign for the culture clash that I have ever read about women&Islam.
In the end, it all comes down to Muhammad's assessment of women:
"The Prophet said, 'Isn't the witness of a woman equal to half of that for a man?' The women said, 'Yes.' He said,
'This is because of the deficiency of a woman's mind.' "