Women's Participation in Socioeconomic Development: Reassessing Islamic Principles of Agency, Rights, and Social Responsibility

Abstract

Muslim-majority societies show some of the lowest rates of women's formal economic participation in the world, and this gap is often attributed to Islam itself. This article reassesses that claim by returning to the primary sources of the Islamic tradition (the Qur'an, the Sunnah, and the juristic and ethical frameworks built on them) and reading them alongside the development literature on agency, capabilities, and empowerment. It argues that three Islamic principles bear on women's socioeconomic participation: moral and spiritual agency as individual accountability before God, enforceable economic and legal rights, and shared social responsibility expressed through the objectives of Islamic law (maqāṣid al-sharīʿa). The article further argues that the gap between these principles and present-day outcomes is better explained by patriarchal custom, selective interpretation, weak institutions, and political economy than by scripture. It concludes by proposing a framework in which Islamic normative resources and development policy reinforce each other, and by suggesting directions for research and reform.