ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on history of Islam and women and some of the changes in women's situation over the centuries. Women's education became a top priority on their agenda for social reform and modernization. Women working in agriculture and the informal economy generally enjoy none of the benefits or protections enjoyed by women in the formal economy. Most Islamic countries have a dual legal system, a civil code and a personal-status or family law, often called Sharia law. As with other developing countries, the majority of working women in Turkey, Tunisia, and Egypt are concentrated in the informal sector, either in agriculture or in unregulated or unpaid family work. Women activists will continue to pressure their governments to address gender issues in the labor force and in the society at large. Women's active participation in the formal political system and in civil society is another characteristic of these modernizing Islamic countries.
