Sayyid Qutb, in Social Justice in Islam, trans. by John B. Hardie (New York: Octagon Books, 1970), pp. 49-53, writes:
"As for the relation between the sexes, Islam has guaranteed to women a complete equality with men with regard to their sex; it has permitted no discrimination except in some incidental matters connected with physical nature, with customary procedure, or with responsibility, in all of which the privileges of the two sexes are not in question. Wherever the physical endowments, the customs, and the responsibilities are identical, the sexes are equal; and wherever there is some difference in these respects, the discrimination follows that difference...
But the strongest point in Islam is the equality which it guarantees to women in religion, as well as in their possessions and their gains. Also it gives them the assurance of marriage only with their own consent and at their own pleasure; they need not marry either through compulsion or through negligence; and they must get a dowry.
It is well to bear in mind also that to this day France does not grant to women the right of administering their property -- a right which Islam does allow -- except by the consent of a guardian. Yet at the same time France grants to women the right of every kind of unchastity, public or private. This 'privilege' is the only one which Islam denies to its womenfolk, just as it also denies it to men...
And while today we watch the material West preferring women to men in some professions, particularly in commerce, in embassies, in consulates, and in information services such as newspapers and the like, we must not forget the regrettable and unsavory significance of this advancement. It is a form of slavery and servitude in an atmosphere of the smoke of incense and opium. It is the employment of the sex instinct by the tycoons and potentates of the merchant world; and similarly the government sends women into embassies and consulates, and newspaper editors send women to glean news and information. All of them are merely attempting to make use of women; and they know what success a woman can have in these fields. They know, too, what she must give to achieve her success. And even if she gives nothing -- which is an absurd supposition -- they know what hungry passions and eager eyes are on the watch about her body and about her reputation. But they take advantage of women's hunger for material gain, and for some slight success; for humane and noble feelings are far, far from them."
And, in Milestones [Ma'alim fi'l Tariq ] (Beirut: The Holy Koran Publishing House, 1980), pp. 182f., Qutb wrote in 1964:
"If the family is the basis of the society, and the basis of the family is the division of labour between husband and wife, and the upbringing is the most important function of the family, then such a society is indeed civilised. In the Islamic system of life, this kind of a family provides the environment under which human values and morals develop and grow in the new generation; these values and morals cannot exist apart from the family unit. If, on the other hand, free sexual relationships and illegitimate children become the basis of a society, and if the relationship between man and woman is based on lust, passion and impulse, and the division of work is not based on family responsibility and natural gifts; if woman's role is merely to be attractive, sexy and flirtatious, and if woman is freed from her basic responsibility of bringing up children; and if, on her own or under social demand, she prefers to become a hostess or a stewardess in a hotel or ship or air company, thus using her ability for material productivity rather than the training of human beings, because material production is considered to be more important, more valuable and more honourable than the development of human character, then such a civilisation is 'backward' from the human point of view, or 'jahili' in Islamic terminology.
The family system and the relationship between the sexes determine the whole character of a society and whether it is backward or civilised, jahili or Islamic. Those societies which give ascendance to physical desires and animalistic morals cannot be considered civilised, no matter how much progress they may make in industry or science. This is the only measure which does not err in gauging true human progress."