Role Of Working Women For The Personality Development Education Essay

Let there arise out of you a band of people inviting to all that is good, enjoining what is right and forbidding what is wrong. They are the ones to attain felicity)

You are the best of people, evolved for mankind, enjoining what is right, forbidding what is wrong and believing in ALLAH.

Commentary

These two verses of the Holy Quran are identical. The basic idea emphasized to the Muslim Ummah is to guide the human being to do good deeds and prevent them from doing prohibited things and those who work hard for implementation of truth and elimination of evils from the society deserve salvation reward from Allah, although the commands of Allah in the Holy Book are for all but the Muslims having faith in it are committed to obey it all aspects of their lives. Allah is kind to its creation of mankind and revealed a complete system of life for success in this world as well as in the life hereafter.

The life of the Holy Prophet Mohammad (peace be Upon Him) as a living illustration and practical demonstration of Quran. Secondly, Islam is a natural religion and its teachings are eternal for all times to come. Its one of the main achievements, which distinguishes from other systems, is the complete reconciliation and balance between the moral and the practical, individual and social manifestation. If the Divine system as implemented by Holy Prophet is strictly followed the society highly peace full and contented environments in which besides other factors respect to human rights and seeking welfare of others is an objective of every person.

Abstract

God created men and women to build life together and to complete one another all lifelong. Hence, Islam opened the door to women to wade through all the fields of struggle in life side by side with men, supporting each other, helping, and completing one another. It is seen in our societies that women widely face glass ceiling throughout the world. Women are predominantly stereotyped with gender biasness. Women also face biasness in working conditions especially when they under male supervision and when they are on casual leave with child rearing activities. But under so much of pressure from society and home they still can contribute in the economic development of the country as a whole and are seen best in child rearing even if they are at top of the ladder in their organizations.

The family is the first tier in the process of social upbringing. It is the family that instills in the child the standards by which he judges everything that he later receives from all social institutions.

From questionnaires and the interviewing with the working ladies which are working in the education sector, it is judged that the role of working women which are working in the education sector which are somewhat play an important role for the personality development of their children and they play role for the personality development of their children because the main reason for not play an important role for the personality development of her child is that they cannot give as much time as required for their child to develop the personality and due to her job the personality of her child is diminishes.

Preface

“This is the type of research which is require for the completion of Advance Research Method assignment. This project which i work on is a quick response of the role of the working women for the personality development of their children. They were facing basically due to working there child personality is effected due to their job or not. Here i also given plus points and remediest.”

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I am thankful to Almighty Allah (the most Gracious and Beneficial). It is a great pleasure for me to have the chance to work on such an interesting project, which not only enhanced my learning capacity but also help me in the future career.

Thanks to Management Sciences Department for facilitating me to promote me in other organization with its fine name.

I heartily acknowledge the service, guidance and full cooperation of Mr.(Abdul Raziq) for supporting me in every aspect of this project. I am also thankful to all other staff for their full cooperation, who spent their valuable time to share their knowledge, experience and wisdom to teach.

BACKROUND

BACKGROUND

The general role of a woman

What influence does equality between men and women have on defining their expected roles in life? And are we allowed to say that men and women have identical roles in life, since they are one and of the same soul? God created men and women to build life together and to complete one another all lifelong. Hence, Islam opened the door to women to wade through all the fields of struggle in life side by side with men, supporting each other, helping, and completing one another. Moreover, Islam did not separate them in roles, the thing that is clearly shown in His saying {The Believers, men and women, are protectors one of another: they enjoin what is just and forbid what is evil.} (9:71). Once we understand that justice embraces everything positive in life, and that evil comprises everything negative in it, we will then realize that men and women are partners in building up life. And just like men are responsible of the society, women also are equally responsible of the society they live in. So, outside the framework of the specifically motherhood and fatherhood characteristics where they perform absolutely different functions, men and women have vast areas to conquer, building life shoulder to shoulder as human beings, equal in humanity. Accordingly, we can say that Islam had opened the door to women to enjoy life as a whole, in contrast to what some people may assume that it had tied them down in their characteristics as females.

Where and how does the role of women as females prevail? And where could they perform their role as human beings?

The sphere in which a woman can express her femininity is narrow to a certain extent, because it is restricted to her marital life where her role as a female is mainly revealed, and to her family and feminine milieu where she can show her feminine traits through wearing ornaments or whatever… not to mention motherhood that is the most important feminine role that a woman fulfills. But motherhood itself is not purely a feminine role; all the more so it is a human role in a woman’s life. Thus, the role of a woman as a human being remains her most essential role in life. She must confirm, in her actions, that she is a person of reason, a person of will, a person of affection, and a person who has a mission to carry out and she should prove that she has the ability to take part in life. So, women’s humanity is the most important aspect in their personality because it is the aspect that symbolizes the aim God (S.W.T) created them to achieve in this world. He created women to contribute to the existence with the faculties they have, just as He created men to contribute to the existence with the abilities they possess. Therefore, we believe that, while the feminine aspect of the woman’s personality is revealed in a delimited sphere, her human aspect is manifested in her whole existence as a woman. Even more, the human aspect of her personality will indeed be integrated with the feminine aspect of her conduct as a female, whether with her husband or within her own

BACKROUND

specific sensations of femininity. Verily, the aspect of humanity in her will enrich that conduct turning it into a nobler one, and will expand her giving to the partner that she joins in marriage. In other words, it is an aspect that refines the instinct and humanizes it in deeds as well as in feelings, so that the marital relationship will no longer be a relationship in which the female provides the male with her biological drives. It will rather be a human relationship where each partner, male or female, makes use of his distinguishing characteristics in order to give the other what pleases him and what satisfies both his emotional and his physical needs.

Women as housewives

When Islam confirms the specifically female characteristic of a woman in its rulings and legislations; doesn’t that lead us to the conclusion that the intrinsic role of a woman, according to Islam, is the role of a housewife?

The saying that Islam ties the woman down to a homemaker role is a frequently heard reflection on the way things are, and this is why it is worth discussing. But before going into the depth of the subject, we should point out the presence of two kinds of rulings in Islam: The first kind is the binding rules that necessitate the person to do something or not to do it, and they are called the obligation and prohibition rules. And the second is the rules that urge the person to do something but do not compel him to doing it; or exactly the opposite, wishing him not to do something but at the same time do not prevent him from doing it, and they are called the preferable and the detested î º or the rules that allow the person the possibility of choosing whether to do or not to do and they are called the allowed.

Well, does Islam oblige the woman to be a housewife before and after marriage? According to Islam, not a single person whether a father, a mother, a brother or any relative, is authorized to legitimately oblige the woman to manage domestic work in her parental house before marriage. So, housework is not imposed on women just like neither the father nor the mother has the legitimate right to oblige the boy to handle housework.

Yes. She can take on this charge if she willingly volunteered to, out of the sense of responsibility towards the house that is taking care of her. And when the girl becomes a wife, the fact that she manages the domestic work in her house or does not, will also remain a voluntarily matter that is up to her to decide. The contract of marriage does not bind women, from a legal aspect, to do housework, not even to rear her children and take care of them, unless the two married people worked on including the performance of these works in the marriage contract under special terms.

But Islam does not consider that women’s housework as one of the marriage contract articles, and it also does not require the women to carry out any kind of jobs outside home to support her family or to contribute in supporting it. On the basis of the marriage

BACKROUND

contract, man can demand nothing from his wife but the rights to the private marital relationship and all what is related to it. Anything other than that, such as arranging the household affairs and bringing the children up, would not be imposed on her.

From this perspective, we can approach the issue of women’s work in the house as women’s finest contribution that completes men’s finest contribution.

But doesn’t saying that a woman is not obligated to manage her household chores as well as she is not required to lead a job outside the house, carry an implicit acknowledgement that she has a marginal role in life, or at least encourage her to stick to the margin?

Saying that a woman is not obliged to work inside the house or even outside it does not mean that she must do nothing in life. Indeed, the core issue is that Islam wanted women to handle their housework motivated by reasons of giving and not out of obligation, as a social service.

When Islam didn’t force women to manage the household affairs, it offered them the opportunity to participate in building the society they live in. From an Islamic point of view, women are as responsible as men to help people finding their way to God (S.W.T), and to guide society in the right path with all the power they have. And as we have previously mentioned, women are also charged to enjoin what is just and forbid what is evil, the thing that represents the social practical surveillance against deviation in all the domains of life; a role that might get to the level of revolt against unjustness and deviation.

And the saying that a woman is not bound to carry out any career outside home to make a living – in the light of the saying that she should share the man the responsibility of enjoining what is just and forbidding what is evil – does not mean in any way that her role in life is canceled. On the contrary, it indicates that the opportunities are, indeed, wide enough for her to perform that role in a way that her job as a mother and as a homemaker, her participation in supporting her family and even the responsibility of supporting herself do not drain her power to contribute to the public fields.

By making the hardships of home and family life, and even married life less burdensome for women; Islam had, in fact, acknowledged the role of women in building life, and offered her the chance to participate, practically, in that building process.

Women in the midst of marriage and motherhood duties

Notwithstanding your emphasis that the role of a woman as a human being is her prior role in life, this priority is practically negated once we recognize the considerable value Islam attaches to the role of a woman as a wife and as a mother,

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the thing that necessitates her to remain home in order to take care of the children and to satisfy the husband’s needs. So, according to Islam, are women alone responsible of bringing children up? And do they have to stay constantly with their children?

â-Firstly: Although Islam stresses on the importance of a woman’s role as a mother and as a wife, we can benefit from the majority of its rulings that had commissioned the father with the responsibility of the family and the children in particular, and gave him the right to their custody in case of separation… The father and the mother are real partners in the task of raising a child; and although Islam regards motherhood as sacred, it had not made women responsible of rearing their children. In addition to the affection purpose of motherhood and fatherhood, they also have a parenting job that they help each other to fulfill. In this job, the distinctive nature of each parent – the mother as a woman and the father as a man – along with the kind of connection that relates the child to each one of them, have an intrinsic role in developing and enriching the child’s personality on all levels. While the mother provides her child with the inner sense of security when satisfying his physical and emotional needs as a result of her direct adhesion to his body; the father, through looking after the child’s external affairs, takes on the responsibility of supplying him with a deep sense of protection and strength through which he can face the entire outside world. This is an illustration of the mutual work that both the husband and the wife cooperate in doing.

Secondly: It is of a great importance to the child that his mother would be the one who fosters him; nevertheless, nothing binds the woman to constantly stick to the child, or even to the husband, unless he needed her in an extraordinary way.

From this standpoint, the emphasis placed on the importance of woman’s special role as a wife as well as a mother does not deny her general role as a human being because this role carries some human purposes in itself.

â- In case the mother preferred to carry out a job rather than staying all the time with her infant, where can she put him?

If the mother is fully occupied, whether with her work or with anything else, and she cannot take care of her newborn, she can then rely on anyone she finds trustworthy to watch over her baby, in an attempt to fill up the emptiness caused by her absence. However, the mother should make her best trying to spend with him as much time as she can afford in order to provide him with the love and tenderness that can help him in alleviating the feeling of fear created by her not being present. The role of women in the society is an age-old issue, as far as Islamic literature is concerned. It has attracted much debate and controversy over the years. Personally, I have the following observations to make in this regard:

1. The Shari’ah revealed by the Almighty is very brief and sufficient. The thesis is that

BACKROUND

human intellect can itself discover the way out in most affairs. It is only at the crossroads where it is bound to falter that Islam interferes to guide it. In the sphere of gender and social interaction — the sphere which one comes across so often — too only certain guiding points have been given. In this regard, as far as the Shari’ah is concerned, broadly speaking, Islam has given principle guidelines in matters such as the formation and dissolution of a family; its organization under a head and the dress code and behavioral conduct in social contact.

2. Besides this Shari’ah, there is another general directive, which the Qur’an gives in this issue in its lofty style, the brevity of which touches sublimity. It says:

Women have rights just as they have responsibilities according to the good conventions [of a society]. (2:228)

This divine directive — a mere few words — covers a world of wisdom and sagacity in it. In my opinion, it puts to an end once and for all the debate regarding the role of women. What is implied is very clear: it is the sound conventions and traditions of a society, which governs the responsibilities and rights of women. In other words, it is the collective conscience of a society that determines them. Also, since the conventions and customs of different societies can be different, these rights and responsibilities can be different in different societies. Who should raise and look after children, who should cook the food, who should clean the house are all matters in which we must look towards

traditions and customs of a society. If they do not contradict the Shari’ah and are also not against the universal norms of sense and reason, they should be adhered to.

3. Consequently, women have before them a whole arena of activities. They can do everything, which is not against the healthy conventions of their society. They should educate themselves as far as they can and contribute positively in the society through

their intellect, talent and ability. Earning for them is certainly not prohibited. They can pursue careers just as men can. However, as pointed out, they should always give due respect to the precepts of the Shari’ah.

Legacy for Children

INTRODUCTION

INTRODUCTION Legacy for Children

INTRODUCTION

A mother’s employment outside of the home has no significant negative effect on her children The finding, which both supports and contradicts earlier studies on the question of the effect of mothers’ employment on young Children whose mothers worked long hours were found to have slightly lower scores on tests, which measures children’s vocabulary and individual student achievement, but again these differences were small and faded over time.Effects of fathers’ employment status and working hours were also studied. No significant effects of fathers’ employment hours on children’s development were found.

Praise be to Allah: we praise Him, seek His help, ask for His forgiveness, and repent to Him. We seek His protection from our own evil and wrongdoing. A person who is well-guided by Allah cannot be misled by anyone, and a person misled by Allah cannot be guided by anyone. I testify that there is no deity but Allah, alone, with no partner, and I testify that Muhammad is His worshipper and messenger.

This is not the time or place for a discussion of the importance of education and the role it plays in building and safeguarding societies. Everybody, regardless of his school of thought and educational philosophy, knows that education is a necessary and urgent requirement. All societies stress education, pay special attention to it, and make studies in it. If one looks at the shelves of libraries and bookstores, he finds more Western books on education than books published in Muslim societies, which shows that education is a concern and requisite for all, regardless of their educational approaches and priorities.

A mother has a significant, basic role in education. This is evident in the following points:

1- The Family Influence in Education

The family is the first tier in the process of social upbringing. It is the family that instills in the child the standards by which he judges everything that he later receives from all social institutions. When he goes to school, his attitude towards his teacher is formed on the basis of the education he has received at home. His selection of friends at school is also based on the way he was raised by his family. He evaluates everything he hears and sees and every situation he finds himself in or he witnesses through what his family has instilled in him. That is the role of the family in education, a very important and serious role.

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2-A Mother’s Role in Early Childhood

Early childhood is a very important stage in the raising of a child, and the role of the mother at that stage is greater than that of anybody else. While the baby is still nursing,

INTRODUCTION

she has the greatest contact with it. For a great purpose that God has, the only nourishment of the baby at this stage is by nursing from its mother. This does not have a medical effect on the health of the child only, but also has psychological effects, the most important of which is making the baby enjoy the tenderness and closeness that it needs. Doctors always advise mothers to nurse their babies themselves, and if, for one reason or another a mother does not, she is advised to take care of it and keep it close to her all the time.

One can therefore realize how serious a mistake a mother makes when she leaves her baby at this stage to a governess or a maid who takes complete charge of it: cleaning it, taking care of its clothes, preparing its food, and, when the baby takes artificial milk, preparing the bottles for it. In such a situation, a baby misses a lot of the psychological care it needs.

If a mother has the misfortune of having a maid, and it is always better to do without them, she, i.e. the mother, should take care of the baby herself in the early stages of its life. She can leave matters of cooking, house cleaning, and similar chores to the maid, because a baby will not receive as much tenderness and care from a maid as from its own mother. What the baby is exposed to at this stage has a great future psychological effect and influences the attitude of the baby in the future towards various things. This is particularly important, because many governesses and maids in the Islamic world are non-Muslim, and even Muslim ones are often non-religious. The effect of such a situation is not hard to guess and it would take long to discuss this subject in detail, so I will limit myself to this passing remark.

The point is that a mother deals with her baby in early childhood more than the father does. The baby acquires many habits and standards at this age and also learns some modes of behavior which will be hard to change in the future. This is what makes the mother’s role so important; it is the gate of this precarious stage in the child’s life. There are some people, for example, who are devout and upright, but because they have not been raised in their childhood to strict moral and behavioral standards, they are characterized with some roughness in manners and lack of discipline.

3- A Mother’s Role with Her Daughters

If a mother is the closest person to children in general in their early childhood, this closeness is greater and continues longer in the case of daughters. Probably some of the problems we have today with girls are due to the diminished educational role of mothers. A girl goes through adolescence, is exposed to temptations, and has to cope with her desires. The society she lives in encourages immorality, and the girl has an emotional vacuum, and might only find satisfaction and gratification in unholy environments. The mother meanwhile is too busy with her own affairs, or with her neighbors and friends. The girl lives in one world, her mother in another.

It is very necessary for the mother to live with her daughters and be close to them. A girl is more likely to be open with her mother than with her father. It is necessary for the mother to fill the emotional void her daughters suffer from.

The emotional void a girl feels is usually greater in a house with a maid. The maid takes care of the household chores, and the family decides that their daughter should apply herself to her studies, which take a lot of her time. But when school duties are over, the

INTRODUCTION

girl is left with a lot of leisure time. How does she spend it? Reading? We do not usually cultivate in our children the habit of reading.

As already mentioned, there is a great gap between mothers and daughters. A girl feels that her interests, her iclinations, and her way of thinking are not acceptable to her mother. She feels a cultural gap between her and her mother, and finds her satisfaction perhaps in a magazine that covers fashion and home-decoration, discusses love and emotions, and tells a woman how to win the admiration of others. Such topics arouse a certain desire in the girl. Or perhaps she gets interested in video films, or in telephone conversations with young men. Even if none of these things are available to her, she may learn things from her mates at school.

4- A Mother Knows the Private Details in the Life of Her Children

A mother takes care of the clothes of her children and the furniture of the house, as well as intimate details that concern her children. Thus she is more likely to discover problems that her children suffer from than their father, particularly in these days, in which a father is usually too busy for his children. The mother, therefore, is more aware of the affairs of her children than her husband. 

The tide is beginning to turn in the world social order. Traditional family roles are changing as democratic notions creep into the social system. Earlier, it was assumed to be written in stone that the man was the provider in the family and the woman the homemaker. In India, while a majority of the women may still be fighting against the old order, some have definitely seen the light at the end of the tunnel. And it is not just because women are beginning to realize that there is a world outside their kitchen windows. Women are also turning out in large numbers in the work force due to economic necessity. 

But as in the case of every social change, there is a lag between actions and attitudes. While people may be willing to accept the idea of career women, they are not willing to excuse them from their duties as career moms. The attitude towards working women seems to be that while people have no objection to availing of their talents and abilities outside the home, women are not allowed to compromise on home life. And if they do, they should be made to feel the error of their ways. In the first place, the term ‘working mother’ is a misnomer as mothers are working round the clock even if they don’t go to an office. Being a working mother is not the easiest job in the world. Some women are good at it, some don’t have a choice, some choose a middle path and some don’t even try it. The point is that it is the women who should have the right to exercise the option to work or not to work, assuming that they have one. And if they do elect to pursue a career, it is important that their families be supportive. 

 

Making the decision

Mothers who have a choice whether to work or not to work have to consider many things before they take the decision. First of all, they need to be clear about their priorities. Does the baby and family come first or is a career and financial security of

INTRODUCTION

greater importance? They also have to decide whether they would be happy having servants or other family members look after their children. They need to realize that by taking the decision to work, they will probably miss out on all the major milestones of their babies’ lives. Mothers need to remember that a job can be very demanding not only in terms of time, but also energy. Women spread themselves really thin trying to juggle work life and home life. They will have to consider the stress factor of the job because it is not easy to cope with the pressures of a high-stress job and the demands of a baby. Women should also discuss their decision to work or not with their spouses because they will need their support. It may help to find a job that has flexi-hours. It will make it easier for mothers to be able to stay home on days when there is no other caretaker for the baby or to leave early if there is an emergency. 

Sushmita Roy gave up a lucrative career as a management consultant with a multinational and started her own web design firm so that she could work from home. She says, “After Tara was born, I decided that I couldn’t go back to working at a job with such long and erratic hours. I didn’t want to miss out on any special moments in my daughter’s life.  But at the same time, I didn’t want to be a full-time mother because I really enjoyed working. Working from home was the only option.”

Some women have no choice. Veena Marathe had to start working because she and her husband realized that his salary would not be enough to live on once the baby arrived. Veena started working as a receptionist when her baby was one year old. She says. “I felt terrible leaving my baby at such a young age, but I had no choice. It’s not easy being a working mother. I come home tired from work and I have to look after the baby and cook and clean. I get so irritated with my husband and I have even begun to resent the baby’s demands and I know it’s because I’m so tired. To make things worse, I don’t like my job. I’m just doing it for the money. ” 

Suhasini Mehta dreams of becoming a partner in the law firm she works for. She says, “My job is high-stress and I have to work long hours, but I am determined to make it to the top. I live with my in-laws and both they and my husband are very supportive. I know that my in-laws will take good care of my daughter so I can work with a clear conscience.”

 

When to return to work

Mothers often worry that their babies will forget them once they return to work. But they need not fear because babies recognize their mother’s voices right from birth and are not going to forget even if their mothers are away for the whole day. The question then is when is the best time to go back to work? According to Dr. Sushma Mehrotra, “Ideally a working mother should only return to work when her baby is at least one year old. Otherwise, there is a danger that the baby may develop separation anxiety.” Experts feel that mothers should wait till they have bonded with the baby and feel confident in their new role as mothers. For women who don’t have a choice, it really depends on the amount of maternity leave they can wangle. 

 

INTRODUCTION

Spending quality time

According to Dr. Mehrotra, it is not the quantity of time mothers spend with their children but the quality that matters. “A working mother who spends one hour of quality time every day with her child will probably establish a better bond with her child than one who is home nagging the child all the time.” 

In Dr. Mehrotra’s view, “Working mothers definitely have less time to spend with their children than the mothers who are at home. But it’s not that a housewife is a better mother than a working mother. Even if the