Do women in Islam have the right to work?

Are you kidding me? It is definitely forbidden for Muslim women to work; if in Saudi Arabia women are not allowed to even drive a car, how will they ever be allowed to get out and work??

This is one of the common responses you can get from a non-Muslim when a subject like Muslim women’s right to work is discussed.

Today, we will elaborate on this topic, discussing all the misunderstandings while comparing different work situations women face around the world.

Let me start by defining the main role that Muslim women, if not all other women, are entitled to do. The teachings of Islam urge women, especially married ones to take a good care of their husbands and children. This sounds natural as women are the ones who bring children and who are endowed with the motherhood instinct that makes them closer than fathers to kids. While women are busy raising the children and ensuring a peaceful and healthy life at home, husbands are the breadwinners. It is men who “must” provide money, food and housing for their women and children.

HOWEVER, sometimes, men’s work does not cover all the family needs, which drives women to have a job. In this situation, women are forced neither by religion nor by her husband to have a job, but it is something that she alone decides, and this is one of the great rights that women in Islam have; the freedom to work. Here, we must not forget that women would have two multiple jobs, outside and inside home, which is something that not all women can bear. Nevertheless, by mutual love and sacrifice everything can be shared between her and her husband which is something that Islam encourages Muslim spouses to do to strengthen their relationship and eliminate domestic problems.

Other cases may include those women who may have a huge leisure time. They can find solace in having a job, but not just any job. How is that? Let me make this clear. As I said and always say that Islam respects women and urges them to follow its rules for their own good. So, jobs such as dancing, acting, singing are considered forbidden in Islam. Why? Simply, because they do not lead to a dignified life for women. Most of these jobs would make women lose their modesty and attract a huge number of men.

Even in seemingly respectable offices, flirts and romances do happen between colleagues whether they are married or singles. There are a lot of women who suffer from inter-office flirts and romances that sometimes lead to promotions for those who accept dating and fines for those who do not! And please do not think that because media does not shed the light on this problem, it means that it does not happen. There are a lot of studies and reports done concerning this issue; there are even tips on Ehow.com on how to deal with annoying inter-office flirts! Some people may foolishly justify office harassment as way to kill boredom, but excuse me, is there a more honorable and civilized way than sexual and extra-marital affairs?? Why do always resort to our animalistic desires to make life funnier?

To sum everything up, women in Islam do have the right to have their own job and career as long as their husbands and children do not pay the price. In many sorry cases we find children are getting taken care of by nannies who, by all means, are not as kind, loving and caring as their mother. If mothers do not have enough time to raise their children, why did they bother to bring them in the first place? To put it in a nutshell, Islam teaches us to prioritize our lives!

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