Women's Social Participation, an Islamic Approach

By social participation we mean women's entering into an activity well beyond the common household duties and responsibilities, and their doing things which cant be achieved individually.The evolution of women's social duties and rights in history has been too slow and combined with sensitivities. Islam came and forbid any sort of irrational and prejudiced treatment of women, and instead it promoted protective rights in favor of women and their responsibilities. Low social participation of women in post-Islamic centuries gave rise to a wave of egalitarian and feminist movements sometimes leading to extremist stances and shaking the foundations of family life, especially in western countries. This faulty trend brought once again the Quranic viewpoint about the role of women in society back into focus for both Muslim societies and the whole mankind. In this article there is a reference to the Quran and the Prophet's traditions to shed light on rules of conduct pertaining to women's social presence in the light of the practical experience achieved by the model presented by the Islamic Republic of Iran.