Just public. It's a modesty thing, and as such a woman wouldn't be ashamed of showing her face or arms or such in the intimate setting of her own family home. If you needed surgery, then I'd imagine you'd put all social customs aside. Modesty is very big in Islam, and people have taken different interpretations of this over the years. From the end of the Persian empire up until recently (and I know the Persians aren't Arabs) the Arabs decided that women are more in need of modesty than men, hence the somewhat extreme hijab that you see on the news. You'll also notice that hijab applies to men as well - it's not considered respectful for men to show their bare arms or legs in most Arab societies. The fact that they don't have to cover their faces is reflective of the hypocritical male power that is present in societies all around the world. Recently, there have been (minor by Western standards, but this is something completely different) feminist movements instigated in certain Arab and other Islamic nations. Ahmedinajad is known to have been a substantial campaigner for woman's rights, and similar movements have appeared in Jordan, Qatar and Bahrain (and Kuwait, from what I've heard). Yemen, Oman and Syria, however, still remain entirely backward, and Saudi Arabia is, in my opinion, an insult to the entire Islamic religion. Lebanon would be a successful example of a secular Islamic state, if it weren't for Israel, with plenty of equality causes for women and men. Hezbollah, despite it's Western terrorist label, did a lot for women's rights, as well as general charity.