Women in Islam: Equity, Equality, and the Search for the Natural Order

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Abstract
From the Muslim perspective, Islam provides women a position of honor and respect, with clearly stated rights and obligations. The Qur'än affords legal protections in the areas of marriage, divorce, and inheritance that are considered to mark a vast improvement over the situation of women in pre-Islamic society. Nonetheless historical circumstances through the centuries have often worked to the disfavor of the Muslim woman; predominant traditions of male authority and honor have made it difficult for women to avail themselves of the rights guaranteed by the Qur'än. In this century a number of reforms have taken place leading to improved opportunities for education and in general to greater emancipation for women. Yet certain patterns that inflict hardship still prevail, particularly in the areas of divorce, employment, and political activity. Westerners often tend to assess circumstances for Muslim women in terms of “progress” or “problems,” noting what they see as obvious inequities in the relative situation of men and women. This essay argues that little understanding can take place without the effort to see the female-male relationship from within the Islamic perspective. The Qur'än cites men as the protectors of women, the righteousness of the latter defined in terms of obedience to males. A predominant theme in contemporary Muslim writing, expressed by both sexes, is the naturalness of the circumstance in which women because of their innate qualities and characteristics have clearly defined roles and cannot appropriate functions reserved for men. Their somatic and psychological differences determine the distinct—but complementary—duties prescribed for each. Few Muslim women, even those who may be critical of the restrictions imposed by Islam, are sympathetic to much of what they see as characteristic of Western feminism. In Islam women are freed from many of the problems and concerns that are assumed by men, a situation which they often feel is not easily to be given up. Whether or not liberation is appropriate or desirable in the Muslim context is a question that must be considered from within as well as without the tradition, and to the degree to which it is assumed as a goal it must be defined in terms consistent with the Qur'än and with what Muslims understand as the divinely-ordained principles of Islam.

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