Woman Between Islam and Western Society
4. The Problems Facing Modern Civilization
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civilization having formulated its own principles of
human conduct. Its major mistake was to give its
approval to the concept of male-female equality. It
opened the doors of the workplace to women, thus
giving them the opportunity to earn their own
livelihood which, in turn, made them economically
independent of men. This, made women feel
strongly that they were equal to men. They did not
realize how artificial this notion was: in spite of the
improved economic situation of women, western
civilization could not, with all its powers, alter the
dictates of nature — that men are the stronger and
women the weaker sex.
As a result of this artificial equality domestic life as
a whole has met with a contradiction. The women
living in these western homes were physically as
fragile as ever before, but psychologically (in their
temperament, thinking) they had come to consider
themselves as equals of men. Men being the
stronger of the sexes wanted to hold their control
over women. But women due to their
artificial/unnatural temper refused to accept their
control. The result of this contention proved very
bad so far as women were concerned. “You need to
