CONCERNING WOMEN

This term then spread rapidly all over the Western world, as an expression describing the ideal status of men and women. In the second half of the twentieth century, extensive research was carried out on this subject, and this concept began to be doubted. The latest study done on this is by an IIT-Delhi alumnus, which has been extensively covered by the media. A study team led by Ragini Verma, associate professor of radiology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, has revealed that there are stark differences between men and women in the structural connections linking different regions of their brains. Verma and her colleagues are among the first to demonstrate differences in the brain’s hardwiring to support long-standing observations of gender differences in functional tasks. Their findings appeared in the US journal, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, December 2, 2013. The researchers’ findings in this regard only confirm the Islamic position stated in the first quarter of the seventh century. Islam says that men and women are different by birth, rather than being identical. Both are complementary to each other. This fact is referred to in the Quran in these words: You [men and women] are members one of another. (3: 195) According to the Quran, everything in this world has been created in the form of pairs: We created pairs of all things. (51: 49) In the material world, every atom consists of positive particles and negative particles. In the plant and the animal worlds, there are males and females. The human world consists of men and women. This pair-system in the world means that everything functions in a pair-fashion. In other words, nature functions on the principle of complementarity, rather than in an independent manner. Observing this natural fact, one can say that using the term ‘gender equality’ to express the relationship between men and women is not natural. The right statement based on nature in this regard is: ‘Men and women are equal in respect and different in roles’. Islam says that men and women are different by birth, rather than being identical. Both are complementary to each other.