PREFACE

Since its inception in 1982, the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization has devoted special attention to the Muslim woman, deeply convinced that a righteous and dutiful woman constitutes a solid basis of the Islamic society. Islam has treated women with justice socially, making her the pivot of the Muslim family - the latter being a source of affection for children and a fount of knowledge from which generations acquire the values of belief in Allah and His Messengers, and in Islamic brotherliness, solidarity and love.

In keeping with the Islamic organization’s careful attention which it devotes to the Muslim woman, and adhering to its eagerness to educate and prepare her to assume her responsibilities, the Islamic Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization has deemed it appropriate to put out a study on “Basic Needs for Women Education”. This scientific, coherent and thorough study examines a real problem in the Muslim World, namely the decreasing educational level of women. This study puts forth an integral strategy, the goal of which is to effectively meet the educational needs of women. To achieve this, three steps have been taken; they are:

- Examining the basic educational needs for women at the following levels: education, health, environment, family planning, productivity, and so on.

- Laying down the bases and conducting preliminary studies for setting up a project or a program for women education, which requires identifying social, cultural, religious, psychological, educational bases for mapping out a women education program.

- Suggesting ways of implementing this program in terms of its contents, activities and educational aids.

The study has made use of some sources to examine the aspects that might meet the woman’s needs for education, identifying a set of domains that are considered to be vital and of paramount importance in the woman’s life, in particular, and in that of society, in general. These domains are classified as follows: the woman’s educational level and its relationship to child health; family planning and the child, sexually transmitted diseases, home economics, woman as a productive element, and religious, moral and civil principles.

In its search for the reasons why women should receive education, the study stresses that a comprehensive development of society cannot be achieved without women education. For without the woman’s participation in decision-making and implementation, and without her being fully aware of the social issues, society cannot progress and move forward.

The study examines the issues pertaining to the various aspects of this subject through three main axes :

1. Presenting the bases and principles upon which rests women education from the standpoint that the recipients of this type of education have their own distinctive characteristics: social, cultural, cognitive and psychological.

2. Outlining a frame of reference for the goals set by this education from the standpoint of the areas defined in the aspect relating to the examination of the educational needs.

3. Suggesting a number of educational methods and means that are likely to be invested in teaching.

In collaboration with the League of the Islamic World, the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is pleased to put forth this study which it hopes will be of some avail to those working in the field of women education in the Muslim world, program planners, textbook writers, teachers, educationalists, and all those interested in women issues in general. ISESCO hopes that this book will be yet another tool needed in enhancing the level of education in the Muslim world, with a view to achieving the much sought-after development on the basis of equilibrium and complementarity, within the framework of Islamic values that spur the Ummah to achieve greater civilizational progress and advancement.

May Allah accept this work, and make all Muslims benefit from it. He is the All-Hearing, the Omniscient.

Dr. Abdulaziz Othman Altwaijri
The Director General of the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

Dr. Abdullah Bin. Abdul Mohsin Al-Turki
The Secretary General of the Muslim World League