Economic Role of Women The Islamic Approach
By
Jalaluddin
With the introduction of the concept of Gender and Development (GAD) in the 1990s, economic development and empowerment of women has today become a cross cutting theme of all national policies and plans worldwide. Different international agreements require signatories to take appropriate measures to provide women access to and control on resources to reshape gender relations.
Given the global implications of the concept of development and empowerment, it is pertinent to critically examine the position of Islam in relation to the subject under discussion, keeping in view present day realities. However, before taking this question up, the subject of family in Islam must briefly be touched upon as it has a direct bearing on the debate.
The family is an institution of society, and it is essential for every institution to have order and discipline, without which it cannot run or even survive. The institution of the family is run with the mutual collaboration and cooperation of husband and wife. The Islamic scheme for a family’s management is that the woman should be relieved from all other responsibilities in order to focus on the family’s internal discipline and stability, while the man should take the burden of meeting economic needs. The woman’s food, clothing and shelter are counted among the family’s economic needs; if both partners are well-off, a servant or helper for household chores is also included in these needs. The man has to arrange for the expenses of healthcare as well. This is the legal position of Islam on the responsibilities of the husband. In addition, good moral conduct as encouraged in Islam demands that a man treat his wife as well as he can and do everything possible for her comfort and happiness.
While it is true that a woman’s home and family are her primary sphere of activity, and that she has been relieved of financial burdens to give the best of her time and energy to the sustenance and growth of the family, it is not true that she has no right to do anything else, or that all avenues for economic activity have been shut to her. Islamic history shows that, along with paying their duty to family and home, Muslim women have rendered great services outside their homes as well. They have also been involved in economic activities according to the situations in which they found themselves. It is necessary to reflect on different aspects of this phenomenon in the light of Islamic teachings:
Sometimes, a situation demands that a wife support her husband in earning for the family. This situation, where both husband and wife work to meet the family’s needs, is generally seen in the working middle class. However, a highly educated, professionally trained and skilled woman too may find herself in a difficult situation that demands of her to work and earn. If she adopts a lawful occupation, she has every right to do this.
Women may have certain sources of income even where they do not set out to earn in the first place. For example, a woman receives dower (mahr) from her husband, she owns her jewelry, and Islam has given her the right to inherit. A woman may receive money, a plot of land, or property in the shape of a shop or house. She is free to invest her assets and holdings in a profitable business and thereby improve her economic situation.
There were times when women had to bear a very heavy burden of household chores and maintenance, which included, along with serving the husband and rearing the children, sieving and grinding grains, cooking, fetching water, washing dishes as well as clothes, sweeping and dusting, etc. These were really hard and tiresome duties in which women used to spend almost all of their time. Today, we are living in an era of machines. Many of the chores that were done manually get done by machines now. This is one reason why, at least in urban areas, women have more time at their leisure. Moreover, children are sent to nursery and kindergarten when they are just three or four years old, which means that their mothers are spared the time they would have had to give to them in the past. Thus, women generally have more time at their disposal now, even while performing all household responsibilities. If they manage this time and utilize it to improve the economic conditions of their family and their own selves, there is no harm.
For a certain period after marriage, women remain quite busy in bearing children and giving them the special care they need in their early years. A woman might be busiest during this period. When she crosses the age of 40, these responsibilities begin to shrink. However, her abilities and energies do not similarly diminish; rather, maturity and experience adds to her competence. At this stage, therefore, women can engage themselves in economic activities with greater focus and attention.
Women can adopt any occupation or business according to their situation and circumstances, abilities and inclinations. They can seek jobs as well as invest in trade, industry, or agriculture. They can manage and supervise the ventures in which they invest or which they own. They can even create new opportunities for themselves.
Here, it is important to note that meeting the financial needs of a woman is her husband’s responsibility if she is married, and her father’s or brother’s responsibility if she is single. This is an obligation (wajib) on him, of which he is not exonerated even if his wife (or daughter or sister) is well-off and has some other means of income. A woman’s income is exclusively her own. She may spend it as she wills. She may choose to spend it on her husband and children, but this will be an act of goodness (ihsan) on her part and is not a legal compulsion.
Hazrat Abdullah ibn Masud (May Allah be pleased with him) was in a financially weak position. His wife, Zainab (May Allah be pleased with her) used to spend on him. She once approached the Prophet (Peace be upon him [pbuh]) and asked through Hazrat Bilal (May Allah be pleased with him) if she could spend on her husband (in addition to the orphans she was taking care of). An Ansari woman too had the same question. The Prophet (pbuh) replied that theirs was a double reward: one for keeping the relationship good and the other for charity.
To prevent women’s economic activities from taking any direction considered wrong in Islam, it is essential to be aware of the following Islamic principles:
Islam has prescribed the limits of halal (lawful and allowed) and haram (unlawful and forbidden), which both men and women have to observe in all circumstances. They can engage only in halal pursuits. Nobody is allowed to engage in haram activities.
A distinguishing feature of the Islamic scheme for society is that the notion of free intermixing of the two genders is simply alien to it. Therefore, women cannot adopt an occupation or business in which they would have to work in close proximity with men. Chastity and modesty are important values, which give dignity and security to women. As they cannot be compromised, Islam wants women to avoid all situations where there is danger of these values being flouted or violated.
The family is an important institution of society. It is accorded great importance in the Islamic scheme of life. Its strength gives strength and stability to Islamic society as a whole, while its weakness makes the growth and very survival of Islam in society very difficult. The family is built and run by a man and a woman. In this set-up, they both have rights and obligations. It is their responsibility to raise their children, and train and educate them. They may have to shoulder many other responsibilities as well. For instance, they have to fulfill the legal and moral rights of their parents, brothers and sisters and any other relations who are also part of their family. On the internal front of all this, the woman has a highly significant role to play. The family needs her time and attention, energies and potential.
Thus, finances are important, but a woman should not engage herself in economic activities at the cost of the family system and discipline. She should not give herself up to economic struggle at the cost of the warmth of relations.
The family is an abode of peace for its members and an institution that, if strong, guarantees the progress of society. Any damage to it is a loss to both the individual and the society. Therefore, it is not right for individual men and women to ignore it in their pursuit of any other objective.