DOI: 10.36347/sjahss.2018.v06i02.005

Pages: 311-316

Education is the basic and fundamental requirement for the progress and development of overall society. Gender disparities in education reflect the unequal position of women in highly gender biased social order. This is true not only of developed societies but also of developing societies like India where women are at a disadvantage despite a series of educational programs and reforms. Among all the religious communities, Muslims are the lowest educated section of Indian Society and Muslim women the least one. The backwardness among Muslim women in comparison with non-Muslim women in India has become a matter of concern at present. Although Islam as a religion gives its full emphasis on attainment of women’s education, yet there are several social reasons for their backwardness such as large family size, poverty, negative attitude towards girl’s education, lack of link between madrassa education and modern education, etc. The study aims to highlight the educational status of Muslim women in India, the reasons for their backwardness, the issues and challenges they face and recommendations for their integration with the mainstream society.