Female Workers Versus Family Leadership In The Muslim Community

Abstract

Modernity has posed challenges for female workers. On one hand, - modernity provided an opportunity of full employment for women, on the other hand, it may triggered issue on the division of gender roles in the family. Interestingly, this issue not only objected by men, but also is questioned by women. Even if a wife is working and the husband is not, the public often remains putting men as the leader of the family, i.e., a husband is considered as a sole decision maker in the family, without asking a wife’s opinion. Female workers are still considered inferior and such a view has put wife in disadvantaged position. This issue needs to be addressed properly, in order to give benefits for both husband and wife in a family. To do so, in Islam we do not need to be stuck on the concept of male-female power relationship, the important issu is the main goal of a family relation should end with saki>nah, mawaddah, and rah}mah. Considering the fact that a family is a nation capital, a family living in saki>nah, mawaddah and rah} mah is a decisive for creating a peaceful and harmonious society. The term “harmony” does not mean a lazy life without any progressive target, rather a harmonious family which is far from domestic violence. Therefore it is necessary to reformulate fiqh dealing with family leadership. How should fiqh solve this problem? This question is then further discussed and analyzed.