Wrong perception of the motto which reads: "Women are half of the society"

Today, we are discussing the valuable book of Dr. Sit Al Banat Khalid Muhammad Ali, which many people overlooked, entitled "Hidden dangers behind the programs of reproductive health services." Here, we shall concentrate on two important issues that Dr. Sit Al Banat highlighted and we want to reformulate and present them in the way which shows their importance: They are the issues of women's education and work.

First, the issue of women's education:

Dr. Sit Al Banat says that the main reason of the current defect in the system of women's education is the symmetry of their educational system with men so that they become qualified to the jobs of men.

This matter is considered an aggression against their rights and humiliation to their dignity.

Contemporary facts have proven the relationship of this deficiency with spinsterhood, divorce, psychological frustrations, and family problems.

Therefore, Dr. Sit Al Banat adopts that it is imperative to rebuild a new strategy for women's education system that is based on the graduation of a Muslim woman who has the following qualities:

A- To be a good worshipping woman for her Lord.

B- To be a good wife for her husband.

C- To be a good rearing mother for her children.

D- To be a good housewife who well-manages her housework.

E- To be a good and constructive woman for her society.

Second, the issue of women's work:

1- Dr. Sit Al Banat sees that it is granted that women have superior capabilities, so they can bear responsibility and higher education in all levels.

They have the right to work in permissible jobs under the disciplines of Shari`ah.

On the other hand, because men cannot bear the responsibility of pregnancy, childbirth, and running the house affairs, it is important to focus and emphasize on the priorities of women's work, and help them in their basic missions for which they have been created so as to be able to do other available tasks according the Shari`ah disciplines and not according to their personal and sexual freedom recognized by the advocates of women's freedom.

2- Dr. Sit Al Banat sees that there is something wrong in understanding the reality of work without discriminating between its real meaning and other wrong imported meaning.

Islam urges Muslims to work, whether male or female.

Men work to earn their living and build the society, and women work at home to raise a family.

Dr. Sit Al Banat says: Because of the importance of this matter, we refer here to a fallacy that is common in the concept of work when talking about women's work. That concept is well-known to jurists as "Private work," "paid work", or "those acts practiced by women when they are hired by someone with whom they have no connection."

Hence, these works which women do at home, such as: Rearing their children, good treatment to their husbands, caring for the parents, and so on, are not paid.

3– Women who do not earn their wages are often described as idle, and women who do not participate in "labor market" represent unemployment for the half of the society.

This is a fallacy that deceived many people including the intellectuals and the educated, to the extent that the only choice for women is to work outside their homes otherwise they will be idle in their homes.

The correct is: The choice is either they take money for work outside homes or to be free workers in their original functions at home.

4- The flaw in this concept puts pressure on women, their families, and on society to change their conditions from free workers in their home to hired workers outside home, which leads to injustice and failure in fulfilling the rights of their husbands and children, moreover it limits the chances before men, which leads to the increase of unemployment, in addition to the exacerbation of negative security, economic, and ethical consequences, the chances of marriage decrease, and spinsterhood increases. This change does not achieve but a deceptive motive and bad conditions.

The detailed economic figures have proven in one of the UN reports submitted in the early eighties that woman's going out for work costs community 40% of the national income.

This is in contrast to the claims circulated by some people that women's work increases the national income and supports economy.

Moreover, the report says in another paragraph: If women are paid for housework, they will take half the national income of each country.

5- Women's work for real social needs is permissible as long as they are disciplined by Shari`ah without going too far in this track.

The social or personal need of some women to work should not justify their competition with men in work or their negligence in their natural functions.

6- Dr. Sit Al Banat says: In this regard, we remind people with the responsibility of society and state institutions in striving hard to remove this need, minimize it, or mitigate its effects.

It is obvious oppression against women to treat them functionally like men: In working hours, positions, time, type, or years of retirement without appreciating their basic function in raising a sound family and appreciating their nature.

Moreover, we emphasize on the responsibility of the society and the State in solving the problem of poverty which is the major cause for women's suffering within the community which pushes them to do against their nature.

The main source is Sit Al Banat Khalid Muhammad Mahmoud, hidden dangers behind reproductive health services.

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