Woman Between Islam and Western Society
1. A Survey
~ 54 ~
The upholders of this movement maintained that
the cause of the difference existing between men
and women in societies with ancient traditions lay
not in nature but in a man-made social framework.
Their contention was that a woman could do
anything that a man could do, but that outdated
social customs prevented her from coming into her
own. They held that, once given the opportunity to
demonstrate her capabilities, a woman would be
able to work shoulder to shoulder with men in
every walk of life. In no respect would she lag
behind.
This movement is now over two hundred years
old and, in modem developed countries, it has
been so successful that neither the law nor
tradition now places the slightest obstacle in the
path of women who wish to step into the shoes
of men. Yet women still lag far behind men,
there being very few instances of their having
actually placed themselves on an equal footing
with them.
Encyclopaedia Britannica
has this to say on the subject
of women in modern society:
