Islam Is No Bar to Women Working, Ex-Shoura Advisor Says - Building Gender Balanced Business

• Islam encourages women “to work, to earn a living and to develop our talents,” a former advisor to the Majlis as-Shoura, or the consultative legislature of Saudi Arabia.

• But while saying there is no religious reason women should not work, Dr. Umayma Ahmad Al-Jalahma also noted said that unlike Western societies, the basic unit of Islamic society is the family, not the individual. “Working mothers are doing a service to their communities and should be appreciated. Motherhood is also a job.”

• The Western emphasis on the individual and women’s push for equal rights and pay at work, she said, breaks up families. She added that Islam values justice over equality, and thus the differences between men and women must be worked through but not paved over, in the interests of family stability.

• Al-Jalahma was addressing the Asharqia Businesswomen’s Centre in a speech entitled “Women’s Rights in the Workplace.” “Some men and women deny the right of women to work, and this is either a result of ignorance or holding on too tightly to tradition.”

• She did note that men could help at home — “there is no shame in that” — even though Saudi society is masculine in nature, adding that that nature “is not men’s fault. Everything starts at the home.”

The Arab News report of Al-Jalahma’s speech