The Status and Rights of Women Across Human Civilizations and Divine Laws: A Comparative Historical-Analytical Study

Abstract

This study aims to trace the historical development and the legal and social status of women across a range of human civilizations and divine laws, in order to understand the context in which their rights were formed. The research reviews the variation in the treatment of women among Near Eastern civilizations, such as Egyptian and Babylonian, and Far Eastern civilizations, such as Indian and Chinese, reaching Western civilizations like Greek and Roman. It is observed that women's status fluctuated between sanctification and leadership, and between inferiority and marginalization as a heritable commodity.

The study employs the historical method to monitor chronological development, the descriptive-analytical method to examine legal and religious texts, and the comparative method to highlight the fundamental differences between man-made systems and divine laws. The second part of the research focuses on the role of Judaism, Christianity, and especially Islamic law, in initiating a rights revolution that restored women’s full legal capacity, prohibited infanticide, and established their rights to ownership, inheritance, education, and political participation. The study concludes that the true justice for women was not a product of historical coincidence but the result of sublime divine legislation that guaranteed their human dignity and regulated their relationship with men on the basis of integration rather than conflict.