Capital is the prominent feature of Capitalism. It is a system and society that places an abnormal emphasis on generating wealth. Economics, in a narrow sense, underpins all life's affairs. Men and women are seen merely as entities that contribute to the economy. Therefore women as mothers are not valued. Homemaking is an unpaid, labour intensive, strain on the economy. It has no direct bearing on the GDP. Therefore the die of feminism was caste in an emotion of disenfranchisement in a cash driven society. Issues related to working women have been milestones en route to the feminists liberation of women.

The value of motherhood in Islam

The whole question of womens liberation in the West highlights the need for clearly defined roles in society for both genders. As people, we have a purpose. As people, we are here to serve Allah (swt). This involves adhering to the job description which Allah (swt) has written for us. Defaulting on this contract will lead to despair in this life and in the next. With our eyes firmly focused on the hereafter we try to understand the position of genders in society.

Motherhood in Islam is highly honoured. This honour is not assessed qualitatively nor quantitatively in economic terms. For example in 1993, the average British housewifes work was valued at 369 per week (Daily Express). This honour is not assessed in dollars or pounds sterling, rather on what honour Allah (swt) has assigned to it. Allah (swt) has elevated the status of parenting in the Quran. From the Sunnah it is seen that motherhood in particular has been singled out. Allah (swt) revealed,

Your Lord has decreed that you worship none but Him, and that you be kind to parents. Whether one or both of them attain old age in your life, say not to them a word of contempt, nor repel them, but address them in terms of honour. [Quran 17:23]

Abu Hurairah related that a man came to the Prophet (saw) and asked, Oh Rasool Allah, which of all the people is best entitled to kind treatment and good companionship from me? He (saw) answered, Your mother. The man asked, Then who? He (saw) said, Your mother. And after her? He replied, Your mother. And after her? He replied, Your father.

Anas narrated the Prophet (saw) said, when the labour pains come none in heaven or earth knows what is concealed in her womb to soothe her. And when she delivers, not a mouthful of milk flows from her and not an instance of childs suck, but that she receives, for every mouthful and every suck, the reward of one good deed. And if she is kept awake by the child at night, she receives the reward of one who frees seventy slaves for the sake of Allah.

Economic evaluation of gender role in the West

Motherhood was not given the same position in the West. Capitalism changed many aspects of natural family structures. This effected the raising of children, responsibilities of parents and care of the elderly. Pre-industrial British economy was based on agricultural goods, craft production etc. This was organised through households. The household members, male, female, young and old all contributed. Industrialisation shifted production from the cottage to factories, shops and offices. Thus the home became re-defined as the place that is not work. Women become relegated to the keepers of the home.

In the Twentieth Century the only socially recognised work is that which is paid with tax contributions in big businesses, on full time permanent contracts. Those included in this narrow description are dignified and honoured. Thus those working in non conventional jobs or unwaged are considered inferior. So collecting fire wood and selling it on a street corner without a peddlers licence and P45 tax certificate would be considered wrong and undignified. The lauding of the stereotypical working man only served to demean motherhood and homemaking.

The sexual revolution

The 1960s saw dramatic changes sweep the US. In this respect America became the trend setter for the rest of the Western World. Young people, college students in particular, rebelled against what they viewed as the repressed, conformist society of their parents. They advocated a sexual revolution, aided by reduced government censorship, the birth control pill and later the legalisation of abortion. Unrestrained individualism played havoc with family values. People began marrying later and having fewer children. The divorce rate accelerated to the point that the number of divorces per year was roughly half the number of marriages. The number of abortions rose, as did the illegitimacy rate.

Meanwhile, the economic conditions underlying women's status were changing. Women had fewer children and mod cons freed them from labour intensive chores formerly associated with housekeeping. The growth of the service sector after the War helped create new types of jobs that could be done as well by women as by men. In Britain almost 90 per cent of new jobs created since 1970 have gone to women (Cohan and Borrill, 1993).

It wasnt until women achieved economic clout by entering the workplace that the feminist movement really took off. Various rights were granted by the system only after women had established themselves as major contributors to the economy. These rights were not fought for or demanded. They were given by the male dominated misogynist Western society merely to appease and pacify women. This can be contrasted with Islam in which the rights for both men and women are previously prescribed by Allah. Our rights are not affected by our economic status. Women in Islam were allowed to own property, vote for a Khalif, trade in the markets and even employ men hundreds of years before these things were dreamt of in the West.

Family values undervalued in the West

Many factors lead to the current Western attitude to motherhood, which is at odds with human nature. Children are brought up by strangers. A mother would work full time, and parent part time. She would give up three quarters of her wages, for child care, to pay strangers to bring up her children. These are the so called super mums. They are not super at all and can lay claim to being mums only in the physiological sense. They con themselves about a thing called quality time. Quality time being a condensed sound bite of parent-child interaction at the end of the day when the parent gets home from work. The social problems that these situations produce are immense.

Even within the West many acknowledge that this is a problem that has to be addressed. The spate of school shootings (Kentucky, Oregon, Arkansas and Mississippi) prompted academics, criminologists, law enforcers and parents, in July 1998, to cite the lack of adult supervision in children's lives as a factor contributing to this problem. In the UK, the Social Exclusion Unit was set up in December 1997 to advise the government on such issues as lawlessness, drugs and helplessness etc. The experts have been brought in to find answers to questions that to most rational people are patently obvious.

Alternatively motherhood can be put into animated suspension until; a promotion is achieved, a PhD obtained or a partnership gained. This can be achieved by reversible chemical sterilisation in the form of a pill or by the many innovative means that modern science has thrown up.

Egg freezing is a service enabling women to pursue careers without having to sacrifice their natural craving for children. The Independent quoted Lucy, 33, Writer: I don't know whether or not I want children in the long-term.I do resent nature for this .I also think that a lot of women who really want children start to panic and compromise enormously in terms of their partner .So, yes if I had the opportunity to freeze my eggs I definitely would do so.I just would love to be able to feel the way that men feel.

Islam evaluates on other than economic terms

Men and women are both the creations of Allah (swt) and in this respect are absolutely equal in status,

And their Lord has accepted of them and answered them, never will I let to be lost the work of any of you be you male or female, you proceed one from another. [ 3:195]

Allah (swt) created man and woman with a different fitra (nature) which gives them different roles to play. There are some attributes that are exclusive to men and some that are exclusive to women. Women bear children and wet-nurse babies. Men are physically stronger and are more capable in certain respects. The normal natural differences between men and women are explicitly and implicitly acknowledged in Islam, without interpreting them as one being better than the other. In contrast to Islam, Plato stated, There is no occupation concerned with the management of social affairs which belongs to women or to men, as such and every occupation is open to both. (The Republic). This epitomises the Greeks lack of comprehension of basic reality. This divorce from reality is something that The West willingly bought into and even cherish as their own heritage.

In Islam neither gender is seen as merely an economic entity. The roles and position of the genders are fully compatible with the realities of human nature. Moreover our adherence to these roles result in a balanced society in this world and our success in the next. The set up of society on the Islamic model creates within it the unquestionable checks and preventative measures against many societal problems. Western governments assign ever growing proportions of their budgets for solving these types of problems.