Women's Rights

The Free Muslims Coalition strongly believes that equality for Muslim women is essential to the development of the Muslim world and to the defeat of extremism.

The Coalition believes that societies that are strictly patriarchal where women have little to no input in family decision making indirectly teach children to accept an authoritarian form of government and decision making. The societal pattern encourages others to listen to the loudest voice, often the voice belongs to Islamic extremists. Part of the success that Muslim extremists rely on is the lack of direct and aggressive challenges to their medieval interpretation of Islam, by peace-loving Muslims.

The Coalition believes that promoting a society where women are seen as independent thinking partners in a household rather than servants who merely take orders from their husbands is essential to the development of democratic society.

The lack of equal access to opportunities for women stunts economic development in all instances. Societies are made up of people of varying degrees of intelligence and capabilities. When a nation deprives women, who make up at least 50% of the population, of equal opportunity to reach their full potential, that nation's social and economic development is curtailed.

Unfortunately, one of the consequences of the rise of Islamic extremism is the curtailing of women's rights. While women's rights vary from one Muslim nation to another, the Coalition believes that modern Islam must accept women as equal members of society and not hinder a woman's ability to reach her full potential.