Segregation and social exclusion has reached "worrying levels" and is fuelling inequality in some areas of Britain, a report has found.
Women in some communities are denied "even their basic rights as British residents", the Casey Review said.
Dame Louise Casey accused public bodies of ignoring or condoning divisive or harmful religious practices for fear of being called racist.
Communities Secretary Sajid Javid said he would study the findings "closely".
Dame Louise's review into the integration of minorities was commissioned by former prime minister David Cameron as part of the government's efforts to tackle extremism.
Among her recommendations were that immigrants could take an "integration oath" and schoolchildren be taught British values.
Her review said there was a sense that people from different backgrounds got on well together at a general level, but community cohesion "did not feel universally strong across the country".
She found "high levels of social and economic isolation in some places, and cultural and religious practices in communities that are not only holding some of our citizens back but run contrary to British values and sometimes our laws".
Her report highlighted the plight of women in some Muslim communities, who she said were less likely to speak English and more likely to be kept at home.
"Misogyny and patriarchy has to come to an end," Dame Louise said, adding that public institutions must not fear being racist or Islamophobic.
But Shaista Gohir, from the Muslim Women's Network, said the accounts in her report should not be used to suggest a national trend.
Muslim areas under the spotlight - BBC political correspondent Ross Hawkins
Afraid of being dubbed racist, afraid of losing support, afraid of challenging minority communities - that is Dame Louise Casey's view of Britain's decision-makers.
Criticising politicians and officials is the easy bit. The significance of this report is that it targets individual communities and faiths.
It contrasts with the language of people living "parallel lives"- a term used in an earlier report and designed to be neutral, placing no more blame on one community than another.
Dame Louise makes clear her outrage at what she calls "regressive practices" targeting women and girls. She accepts she is putting Muslim areas under the spotlight.
The question for Dame Louise - an official not immune to criticism herself - is how would she achieve change? What if an elected politician refused to take her oath? What if some people - of whatever community - simply prefer to live and educate their children separately?
During her research, Dame Louise spoke to women in areas of Birmingham and Manchester that she said could not leave their homes without their husband's permission.
She blamed those in authority for "ducking the issue" of women's inequality out of a wish to respect different cultures.
"If [the women] were white and living in Surrey, we would all be up in arms about it," she said.
How the UK population is changing
4.1m population increase 2001-11
50%+ of the increase is due to immigration
2.8m people in Britain are Muslim - the biggest religious group after Christians
70-85% of the populations in some wards in Blackburn, Birmingham, Burnley and Bradford are Muslim
511 schools in 43 areas take more than 50% pupils from Pakistani or Bangladeshi backgrounds
27% of births in 2014 were to mothers born outside the UK
Source: Casey Review
She said not talking about these issues would only "give ammunition to the extreme far-right and Islamic extremists", who are the people "who set out to divide us".
Immigration was another theme in the report, in which she said some towns and cities were "struggling to adjust" to an influx of foreign nationals.
On a visit to Sheffield, she said, she found some schools were coping with an increase in Eastern European children from 150 to nearly 2,500 over a five-year period.
The report also highlighted a "persistent disadvantage" facing black men in the workplace, as well as white working class children on free meals who underperformed at school.
The report made 12 recommendations, including:
A programme of projects to boost cohesion, such as local IT courses and sport activities for children
Councils should regularly collect statistics on hate crime or deficiencies in English
Government and councils should share their approaches to tackling segregation
Schools should promote British values to help build integration, tolerance and citizenship
A review of the "rights and obligations" of immigrants likely to settle in the UK
New immigrants could have to swear "an oath of integration with British values and society"
Funding for school projects that encourage children of different backgrounds to mix
On top of English language classes for adults, special classes to tackle any "cultural barriers" to a person's employment prospects
More funding for local English language classes and a review of whether courses are reaching people who need them
Councils should investigate whether their housing policies help or hinder integration
Better checks when children are removed from mainstream education
New oath for public office-holders pledging "tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs"
Communities secretary Mr Javid said Britain had "long been home to lots of different cultures and communities", but added that "all of us have to be part of one society".
While it was right to celebrate the "positive contribution" diverse groups make to British life, nobody should be excluded from it or left behind, he said.
"We need to take a serious look at the facts and must not shy away from the challenges we face.
"Dame Louise's report is a valuable contribution, and I will be studying her findings closely."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-38200989
