ON THE HISTORICAL PRACTICE OF WOMEN AND BUSINESS OWNERSHIP

Abstract

In the fifth century, the history of women across the word underwent a drastic change with the coming of education and the Qur’an. Women throughout history have not often had a voice to be heard and were neither allowed to work nor able to own a personal business: “Whatever the husband possesses is his property, and whatever the wife possesses becomes property of her husband” (Thompson, 1974: 142). Her husband could invalidate any sale or take back any present she would receive. Hence, no contract would be valid if it were singed or initiated by a woman. It was not until the eighteenth century that women in the West started attaining some rights, with the ideas of Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797) in Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792), and Sargent Judith Murray (1751-1820) in On the Equality of the Sexes. These same rights were given to women in France in 1970 and were incorporated later in Europe. However, with the coming of the Qur’an in 622B.C., and a strong emphasis on education, women in the Africa, the Middle East, and Asia, experienced drastic changes by the procurement of theological rights. As a result, women in the Modern Age are pursuing their careers, are employed and have their own businesses.