How Islam views gender equality?

By Dr Saeed Ismaeel Sieny

Islam emphasizes and enhances the natural disposition, which Allah has instilled in His creation. Allah has created men and women with different attributes for each to fulfill part of the essential needs of both to live happily in this life and to work more efficiently for the Hereafter. 

God made both genders indispensable for, and complementary to, each other. They are like the day, which is composed of two indispensable parts: nighttime and daytime: also electricity, which is composed of two elements that bring to life many lifeless materials.

Among the things that Allah has distinguished the female with is that He made her highly affectionate and emotional in her behavior.

Besides, Allah has made woman elegant and fragile to increase her attractiveness, though it limits her freedom of movement in the environment where she lives. She was made tender and affectionate to be capable of absorbing man’s stiffness and to attract him, and to provide him with the psychological refuge, and to soothe his pains and relieve his worries. Also, she was made to be more ready to sacrifice herself for the others in order to be suitable to take care of the children.

In fact, all these qualities are indispensable to the happiness of any family or community. It has been proven, by psychological experiments, that females are stronger than males in surviving unusual psychological situations and recovering from psychological shocks.

On the other hand, Allah has created man to be distinguished with strength to protect his family, and to make him more capable of moving freely in the environment where he lives.

Man can wander freely in a wider area; he can go to isolated or deserted areas, and move more freely during the late hours of the night and in darkness. 

Man is also less exposed to aggression because he is more capable to defend himself. 

However, when we speak about the distinctive characteristics of men and women, we should bear in mind that there are exceptional cases where a man or a woman may excel in the other’s field of specialty.