Principles of Women Rulership In Shicite Jurisprudence and Interpretive Thoughts

Women are not just half of population, but the effective part of society during political reform. Scholars and jurists, especially contemporary ones, facing the subject “women’s participation in political development”, hold totally different opinions which lead to different approaches theoretically and practically.On the one hand, some disagree with women’s political participation and all its aspects, referring to tradition which defines women’s role to take care of the house and to bring up the children. They interpret some verses to mean that men should rule over women, and rely on hadiths to prohibit women from ruling or advising.On the other hand, some others believe women should take part in politics and their participation in all affairs is not only allowed but necessary. They refer to Imams’ (p.b.u.h) attitudes and criticize the former, whose opinion is irrelevant to them. There is also another group which considers women only to be unqualified for leadership and being rulers. This essay considers religious doctrines and works on provisions of women’s political participation and its levels and bounds, on the basis of policy making.