Status of Women in Society

Women in Modern Civilization The modern Western man fell deeply into error because of his blind acceptance of the concept of the equality of the sexes without giving due consideration to what equality— in its best sense—ought to mean or to what, in practice, it entails. According to modern thinking, equal status to women meant bringing them out of their homes, thus making them come face to face with men in all facets of life without regard for the practical and moral problems that might ensue. Islam, on the other hand, defines separate roles and, therefore, separate spheres of work for men and women since it is natural and realistic to do so. The other significant error made by modern Western thinkers was to assume that a role that was separate, different, and played out in other than traditionally masculine strongholds was necessarily of trifling importance—in short, inferior. As such, the West concluded (because of separate roles) that Islam gives a subordinate position to women. On the contrary, since it is being said in the West (in theory) that women must be given a place in every department of life given to men, they conclude that the West provides her with a superior position. So, modern man imagines that his feminine counterpart has been accorded a superior position. But let us examine the state of women’s affairs in the West. In the societies of the West, which have attained a high level of material development, theory has not been put into practice, and men and women still live and work in their own very separate domains. The status of women is