Women in the Arab and Muslim world are treated like "furniture" and the situation requires a "feminine revolution", Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi said on Friday, ANSA news agency said.

"Women are like a piece of furniture you can change when you want and nobody will ever question why you did so," Gaddafi told an audience of women who included leading figures from the world of culture, politics and the economy.

"The world needs a feminine revolution based on a cultural revolution," he added, without elaborating.

Gaddafi, on the third and final day of a visit to Italy, evoked great women in Italian history, from the writer Matilde Serao to actress Claudia Cardinale.

Before his speech, Italy's equal opportunities minister Mara Carfagna said she would call on Gaddafi to support moves to ensure that African women could benefit from the rights enjoyed by women around the world.

Gaddafi, who has in the past described himself as a defender of the feminist cause, has a unit of women-only bodyguards trained at an elite Libyan officers' academy.

AFP