Women and Islam Facts for Kids

The complex relationship between women and Islam is shown by both Islamic texts and the history and culture of the Muslim world. Islamic scholars maintain that the Qur'an, the holy book of Islam, affirms women's religious and moral equality.

However, sharia (Islamic law) shows the marked differences between women's and men's roles, rights, and obligations, and many Muslim-majority countries give women different rights than men with regard to marriage, divorce, civil rights, legal status, dress code, and education.

Islamic feminism is a type of feminism that focuses on women in Islam. Nawal El Saadawi is an Egyptian feminist who has written many books about women in Islam.

Images for kids

Girl Reciting the Qurān (Kuran Okuyan Kız), an 1880 painting by the Ottoman polymath Osman Hamdi Bey, whose works often showed women engaged in educational activities.
A fifteenth-century Persian miniature depicting the Battle of the Camel, a decisive encounter between the troops of the fourth caliph 'Alī, and an opposing army rallied by Muḥammad's wife, Āʿisha. In the aftermath of Alī's victory, Āʿisha withdrew from politics. Traditionalists have used this episode to argue that women should not play an active political role, while modernists have held up Āʿisha's legacy in arguing for gender equity in the Islamic tradition.
Pakistani school girls in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Queen Rania Al-Abdullah of Jordan is one of the Islamic world's most high-profile educational campaigners. Her foundation – established in 2013 – is developing a number of education programmes, including online learning platform Edraak.org.
A scene from a female-majority class at the Psychology Department of Uludağ University in Bursa, Turkey. In Turkey, 47.5% of staff at the top five universities are female, a higher proportion than for their equivalents in the United States (35.9%), Denmark (31%) and Japan (12.7%).
Three female Garuda Indonesia employees (centre) pictured at the ITB Berlin tourism trade fair. The proportion of senior business roles held by women in Indonesia is 46%, the highest in ASEAN and well above the level of countries such as Brazil (19%), Germany (18%), India (17%) and Japan (7%).
A Kazakh wedding ceremony in a mosque
A bridal procession accompanied by live music in Lombok, Indonesia. According to the National Statistical Bureau of Indonesia, the mean age of marriage for women was 22.3 years in 2010, an increase on the 1970 average of 19 years; the corresponding figures for men were 25.7 years and 23 years respectively.
Women in an Istanbul cafeteria
Two Malaysian women wearing contrasting styles of clothing: the (post-)modern hijab on the one hand (left), and a variant of the traditional Islamic kebaya blouse-shirt combination on the other. The kebaya is derived from the Arabic abaya (meaning "clothing") and is the national female dress of Indonesia, although it is worn throughout most of the ASEAN region.
The Meryemana or wishing wall at the House of the Virgin Mary in Ephesus, Turkey. Pilgrims' most frequent wishes include those for good health, peace and happiness. This devotional site is one of many that is sacred to both Christians and Muslims.
A women-only mosque in Byblos, Lebanon.
A collage of Muslim women voters in the 2010s from different countries
Khaleda Zia as Bangladesh's first lady during the Ziaur Rahman period (1977–1981). Bangladesh has been ruled by Zia and another female politician – Sheikh Hasina – ever since the restoration of democracy in 1991, a unique record in the contemporary world.
Taekwondo medallists from Spain, Britain, Egypt and Iran at the 2016 Summer Olympics, including two hijabi women.
Mehriban Aliyeva (foreground) – the First Lady and First Vice-President of Azerbaijan – at a medal presentation ceremony during the 4th Islamic Solidarity Games, held in Baku. This edition of the event attracted a diverse range of local and global corporate sponsors.
Anousheh Ansari, the first Muslim woman in space.

Women and Islam facts for kids

Images for kids

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