The Status of Women in the Koran

The major duality inside Islam is male/female. There is one set of rules for men and another set of rules from women. If there were no submission, then there would need to be only one rule: men and women are treated the same. If they are not to be treated the same, then many more rules are needed.

There is only one area in which men and women are treated equally — both sexes will be judged on the basis of their lives on Judgment Day.  However, the woman will be judged on how well she obeyed her husband.

There is not much material in the Koran, Hadith and Sira about females. Only about 9% of the Koran and about 12% of the Sira refers to woman. The overwhelming amount of the doctrine is about men. But there is more than enough in this Trilogy of doctrinal texts to govern the smallest detail in the life of a woman from birth to death.

These statistics show the bias in the Koran against women.  There are four status categories, high, equal, low and neutral.  Since “neutral” actually has no status, there is no reason to include it in this analysis.

High Status (Example:  praised as a mother)
Equal Status (Example:  on Judgement Day)
Low Status (Example:  told what to do)

           
The Status of Women in the Koran

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Supporting Data

Statistics by Word Count

Reference Word Count % Koran
(152,419)
% Words
(12,066)
High 643 0.4% 5.3%
Equal 2,831 1.9% 23.5%
Low 8,592 5.6% 71.2%
Totals 12,066    
       
Neutral 5,413 3.6% 44.9%

Statistics by Verse Count

Reference # Verses % Verses
(151)
High 11 7.3%
Equal 38 25.2%
Low 102 67.5%
Totals 151  
     
Neutral 74 3.6%