Sour grapes or voluntary submission: an Islamic perspective of adaptation and social choice in the context of gender division of labour

The purpose of this paper is to offer an Islamic perspective of social choice and wellbeing in the context of gender division of labour. The paper argues that instead of confining well-being to physical or material contexts, the concept within Islamic society (and other religious traditions) must be expanded to include well-being in the life hereafter. There is a spiritual beauty in submission to God, which must not be discarded as forced adaptation. A political liberalist solution towards adaptive preferences has the risk of overriding the voluntary choices of (some) women and men, whose religious beliefs and practices may encourage, if not make obligatory, certain kind of gender division of labour. Yet, the fact that patriarchal influences on Islamic thought and practices have historically resulted in social structures that tend to produce and maintain female disadvantage, at least in some dimensions, poses a significant challenge for capability and equal opportunity in Islamic society.