Women were employed in a wide range of commercial activities and diverse occupations
[32] in the primary sector (as
farmers, for example), secondary sector (as
construction workers,
dyers,
spinners, etc.) and tertiary sector (as
investors,
doctors,
nurses,
presidents of
guilds,
brokers,
peddlers,
lenders,
scholars, etc.).
[33] Muslim women also held a
monopoly over certain branches of the
textile industry,
[32] the largest and most specialized and market-oriented industry at the time, in occupations such as
spinning,
dyeing, and
embroidery.
In comparison, female property rights and wage labour were relatively uncommon in Europe until the
Industrial Revolution in the 18th and 19th centuries.
[34]
In the 12th century, the famous
Islamic philosopher and
qadi (judge)
Ibn Rushd, known to the West as
Averroes, claimed that women were equal to men in all respects and possessed equal capacities to shine
in peace and
in war, citing examples of female warriors among the
Arabs,
Greeks and
Africans to support his case.
[35] In early
Muslim history, examples of notable female Muslims who fought during the
Muslim conquests and
Fitna (civil wars) as soldiers or generals included
Nusaybah Bint k’ab Al Maziniyyah[36] a.k.a. Umm Amarah, Aisha,
[37] Kahula and Wafeira.
[38]
A unique feature of medieval
Muslim hospitals was the role of female staff, who were rarely employed in hospitals elsewhere in the world. Medieval Muslim
hospitals commonly employed female
nurses. Muslim hospitals were also the first to employ female physicians, the most famous being two female physicians from the
Banu Zuhr family who served the
Almohad ruler
Abu Yusuf Ya'qub al-Mansur in the 12th century.
[39]
and 