A woman's place is in the home Women play a very vital role in human progress and have a significant place

in the society. They are not at all inferior to men. They are capable of sharing all the responsibilities of life. Man and woman have been rightly compared to the wheels of the same carriage. Islam has accorded an equal position to women in the society. Islam realized the importance of women and granted them a very dignified position equal to man. The main responsibility of a woman is to preserve the human race. As a mother, her position is unique. She brings up the children with extreme care. The first school of a child is the lap of his mother. It is quite true that great man had great mothers. Napoleon said: Give me good mothers and I will give you a good nation. The progress of nation depends upon the way the mothers bring up their children. If the mothers are educated, the whole society will progress. Women have always played an important role in the progress of a nation. In the early days of Islam, women worked side by side with men. In the battlefield, they nursed the injured, kept up the supplies and in certain cases even fought bravely. Florence Nightingale was the woman, who led a very successful campaign for the reforms of hospitals and nursing profession. Women had been great saints, scholars, poets, writers, reformers and administrators. Women are allowed to work in Islam, subject to certain conditions, and even recommended to do so should they be in

financial need.[48] This is supported by the Quranic example of two female shepherds ([Qur'an 28:23]).[48] Islam recognizes that the society needs women to work for the sake of development. In general, women's right to work is subject to certain conditions:
[48]

The work should not require the woman to violate Islamic law (e.g., serving alcohol), and be mindful of the woman's safety. If the work requires the woman to leave her home, she must maintain her modesty. A woman may not remain in isolation with an adult male in isolation, because as per Hadith, the third one among them is the devil, thus chances of going astray will be avoided. Her work should not affect more important commitments, such as those towards her family.

Furthermore, it is the responsibility of the Muslim community to organize work for women, so that she can do so in a Muslim atmosphere, where her rights are respected.[48] However, the employment of women varies over fields in Islamic law. Whereas women may seek medical treatment from men, it is preferred that they do so from female physicians. It is also preferred that female schools, colleges, sports centers and ministries be staffed by women rather than men. On the contrary, there are disagreements between Islamic schools of thought about whether women should be able to hold the position of judge in a court. Shafi`ites claim that women may hold no judicial office, while Hanafites allow women to act as judges in civil casesonly, not criminal ones. These interpretations are based on the above quoted Medinan sura (verse) [Qur'an 4:34].[49] Even when women have the right to work and are educated, women's job opportunities may in practice be unequal to those of men. In Egypt for example, women have limited opportunities

to work in the private sector because women are still expected to put their role in the family first, which causes men to be seen as more reliable in the long term.[50] While many work outside home in responsible positions in Morocco, the law continues to treat them as minors and with discrimination. Specific fields of work clearly spells out that women and children below 16 years are restricted. Whereas this is argued from point of view of protecting them as child potential bearers, in some cases it is on moral grounds. The presumption is that women are less able to protect themselves, or that men are better able to resist the corrupting influences in such places.
[51]

Patterns of women's employment vary throughout the Muslim world: as of 2005, 16% of Pakistani women were "economically active" (either employed, or unemployed but available to furnish labor), whereas 52% of Indonesian women were.[52]