Support for working women

I'll summarise the gist of the meeting of female academic leaders and I hope young working women will be inspired and not quit their job or like me, live and work through guilt all the time as a young working mother.I would not want you, young ones to lose focus and not achieve your potentials.I suppose this would apply to young men and young dads as well:

1. First of all, we should not work just to make or improve the statistics ( yes, we may outnumber men at uni but we are still below 50% in the workforce and fewer in the decision making positions.The corporate world is even lower and in politics, female representation is no where.Is it a wonder crime against women, children is increasing each day?)

2.There is no gender divide in Islam so we should not encourage it.The realities can only be addressed if each Muslim knows his and her rights in Islam.Prof Kasule, a medical doctor trained at Harvard who speaks 6 languages, now working in Saudi said we must take our marriage contract seriously..women must spell out their dos and don'ts before they marry e.g. would the future husband allow her to work after marriage, would she have the freedom to determine where she wants to live should they have to move abroad,etc etc.The women must set all these in the marriage contract (even if they do not want to cook, etc) and the guys also should be clear about their dos and don'ts.If they are not compatible, walk out now then divorce later cos' it's gonna be very messy.The children will suffer,etc.

3.Allah gives talents to everyone.Talented women must contribute to society cos' they bring in different perspectives to workplace. An American Prof. of Engineering converted to Islam, in her hijab but an authority in the US on automobile safety advised that women must not quit their job cos' we are all accountable to Allah.Life is a test, life is a service and we would be questioned on how we've lived our lives..what goodness we've brought to our society, etc.However, it is also important to plan ahead and make sure that the family is not shortchanged.It is all about planning and managing your life, she said.What I liked most about her talk was when she said what we do is also teaching.If we excel at work and home, our children will look up to us as role models and we do not have to sit with them and preach.They'd learn values just by watching what we do.Her children are all successful despite her being a busy mom.One son graduated from Oxford's medical school and teaches at Columbia Uni in NYC.But they are all grounded in Islamic values.

How comforting! How inspiring to young parents.

4. Prof. Kasule used Omar al Khattab as an example of principled leadership.I'd share with you some examples later.

My last class today before exam starts tomorrow and I have a party this evening.Watch this space for news.:)