Educate. Educate the women, so they expect better. This seems to happen way more in places where women don’t have resources on their own and have to rely on their father and then their husband, which makes them something like chattel. If they have a way of gaining even a modicum of independence, they often garner respect as well. Of course, the converse argument is that their society depends on keeping women in their place, and to dislodge that plank would bring the whole culture tumbling down. This is also the argument against interfering with things like female genital mutilation. Westerners cannot just march in and tell them what to do. and how to “clean up their messy culture.” That will only make them cling to it even harder in the face of imperialism. It has to come from within. We can only suggest. We can also provide some help like this – microloans. Women are more likely than men to use microloans (sometimes just a few dollars) to help their families and children. It can work wonders in making women more independent and giving them dignity and more of a say-so in their lives through economic power.