There are quantitatively more women than men in the world today according to recent statistics. Looking at the Muslim population, for every man, there are 1.041 women. However, the employment rate amongst women in the Muslim world is far less than for men. For example, only 16% of Pakistani women are economically active (i.e., either employed or looking for work). The figure is much higher for Indonesia, where 52% of women are economically active, albeit mostly participating in low-paid work such as domestic service.
Amongst the socially respectable professions, teaching and medicine have traditionally been deemed “suitable” professions for women in a number of Muslim countries. These professions are seen as being culturally acceptable, perhaps leading to an oversupply of women in the educational sector, and increasingly in public health and medical professions. While there is no systematic evidence of the exploitation of women in the health sector, there is a very clear indication of such a trend in the private educational sector, especially those schools that cater for low-income families. Private schools, both in urban and rural areas have benefitted immensely by employing women at salaries and wages that their male counterparts would reject outright.
While female employment must have led to the cost efficiency of a number of businesses in the private sector, it has certainly led to wage discrimination against women. In many small businesses where women also work (e.g., travel agencies) the overall environment is not conducive to female employment. Lack or shortage of space means that women have to work in an environment that allows their male colleagues to invade their personal space. Direct or indirect sexual abuse is rampant, although it is not necessarily reported due to cultural sensitivity. According to the Arab Human Development Report 2005, “Stereotypical gender roles are deeply entrenched in this region, limiting women’s employment and decision-making opportunities, which are still the lowest in the world”.
Notwithstanding the above discussion, it is pleasing to note that Islamic banking and finance has empowered Muslim women, especially in Malaysia, where at least two Islamic banks (Hong Leong Islamic Bank and Kuwait Finance House Malaysia) have female CEOs. The National Shari’a Council, the apex body of jurists appointed by the central bank (Bank Negara Malaysia), has two female members out of a total of 11: Associate Prof. Dr Engku Rabiah Adawiah Engku Ali and Dr Rusni Hassan.
Unfortunately in other countries, the situation is not as encouraging though we do see women playing an important role in the development of Islamic banking in their respective countries. In UK, for example, there are several leading female lawyers who have impressive experience in advising on Shari’a-compliant transactions. Farmida Bi of Norton Rose is one such example. Priya Uberoi, previously of Clifford Chance, is also considered a leading lawyer specializing in Islamic derivatives and structured products.
Female employment provides Islamic banks in some countries (notably Pakistan) a choice: employ women for lower wages (as has been the case in other sectors) and improve their cost efficiency, or empower women by offering them employment on equal opportunity grounds and improving their organizational efficiency and profitability.
Women in a number of countries are still hugely under-banked or non-banked as compared with men. Islamic banks can leverage off the female workforce in mobilizing savings from women to bring them under the banking purview. This will bring down financial exclusion amongst women – something that has for some time been targeted in Bangladesh, Pakistan and Indonesia through various microfinance programmes.
Outside Malaysia, women have played virtually no role at all in the Shari’a advisory side of Islamic banking. Almost all Islamic banks and other conventional banks with Islamic banking sections have employed male graduates of different universities as their Shari’a advisors. While this has worked well for the banks, there is a need to bring women into this sector as well. Arguably, the International Islamic University Islamabad and International Islamic University Malaysia can play a role in developing a new breed of female graduates of Shari’a and law, who can serve as Shari’a advisors at the banks offering Islamic financial services.
Female empowerment in the financial sector has improved in Malaysia under the leadership of Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz, the long-standing governor of the central bank, and there is a need to study the Malaysian model to encourage and promote a larger female labour force in the banking sectors of other countries. This will not only bring more and better economic opportunities for women in the banking sector but can push female wages up in other sectors, especially in education. Thus, through Islamic banking, a number of countries can achieve the goal of women’s empowerment, which is deemed politically correct in the current international geo-political environment.
Those who are aware of the seminal work of Dr Muhammad Akram Nadwi on the role and contribution of women in the teaching of hadith must be aware of the large number of Muslim women who participated in the Islamic tradition of learning and teaching throughout the entire history of Islam. Aisha bint Abu Bakr, wife of the Prophet of Islam (peace be upon him), was the first recognised women teacher of hadith, who narrated 2,210 hadiths of the Prophet. A number of renowned scholars such as Fakruddin Ar-Razi and Ibn Taymiyya can boast of having female teachers from whom they learned from. But it was not only education that women have played a salutary role. The socio-economic histories of Islamic societies show the important roles that women played. Waqfs have been rightly praised for their role in allocation of resources government has failed to provide. They were a common feature of major cities in the Islamic world. Research has shown that by the 18th century, 30-50% waqf founders were women.
It is arguably a recent phenomenon, following the colocalization of Muslim countries, that Muslim women have become less visible in the market and academia. With the rise of Islamic finance, women have once again started assuming important positions, including becoming CEOs and heads of divisions in different banks and financial institutions. More importantly, Islamic banking and finance offers stellar opportunities for women to get involved in Shari’a advisory and fatwa issuance. This is an important contribution of Islamic finance to the empowerment of women. The more publicised and highly controversial approaches (e.g., Amina Wadud, an African- American Islamic scholar, who started leading Friday prayers in 2005) to highlight women rights in Islamic communities have backfired. A less confrontational approach is to rise in one’s profession, and there is no doubt that Islamic finance provides a way.
This Special ISFIRE Report acknowledges and celebrates the leadership roles played by some renowned, as well as those who are less well-known, women who have served the Islamic financial services industry. The most distinguished and celebrated woman in Islamic finance today is none other than Tan Sri Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz, Governor of Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM). A lot has already been written on her achievements as governor of the central bank and for promoting Islamic banking and finance in Malaysia and elsewhere. She was appointed Governor in 2000 and in the last 13 years has undoubtedly changed the face of Islamic finance. She has played a leadership role in establishing the Islamic Financial Services Board (IFSB) in 2002 and, recently, the International Islamic Liquidity Management Corporation (IILMC). It was due to her monumental efforts that the industry has benefited from the first university dedicated to Islamic finance, INCEIF, and she was instrumental in the formation of the Malaysia International Islamic Financial Centre (MIFC), an organisation dedicated to the promotion of Islamic finance in Malaysia and abroad. These are a just few examples of successful initiatives that were started during her tenure as governor of BNM: an impressive resumé indeed.
We pick five women from a longer list of 20 whose contribution to the Islamic financial services industry is noteworthy. The chosen five are those who have served the industry but their contributions have yet to be properly acknowledged and celebrated.
