Misconception About Islam #1 Woman Rights

One of the common misconception about Islam is that it oppresses woman and do not give her the proper rights. Instead in Islam both man and woman are equal in front of God in terms of receiving the rewards and accountability of their action. The only action that distinguishes people in the sight of God is the piety in the hearts.
The Holy Quran mentions Chapter 49 verse 13
    Verily the most honorable of you in the sight of Allah is the most God conscious. 
The oppression of woman by islam and muslims which is usually publicized is not because of the teaching of islam instead these are the effects of culture and local customs and traditions.  Violence against woman and forcing them against their wills is not allowed in Islam.
Allah, the Creator our Lord, has assigned different responsibilities for both the genders and according to true islamic teachings based on the Holy Quran and Sahih hadith woman should be given utmost respect and honor and they are given rights for the choice of the spouse, inheritance, getting education, divorce etc.
Oppression and abuse of woman is actually a global issue and not confined only to muslims. the worldwide statistics shows that abuse of woman is no more in muslims than among non-muslims.

1. Why Islam allows a Man to marry more than one wife?
The Holy Quran mentions in chapter 4 verse 3,
      Marry woman of your choice, two or three or four, but if you fear that you shall not be able to             deal justly with them , then marry only one. 
The point to be noted here is that Quran clearly mentions that if one cannot be just among the wives he should marry only one. Also Quran has given the upper limit of four wives while before the Quran was revealed people could marry as many wives as they wanted and not all of them were treated equally.
The religious scripture Bible unlike Quran has not mentioned about any limits of marrying woman instead it has mentioned Prophet Abraham having 3 wives, and Prophet Solomen having hundreds of wives. In earlier times Christians used to marry as many wives as they wanted it was just a few years ago that the Church as put a restriction and allowing to marry only one wife.
In Islam getting married to more than wife wife up to four is only an exception and not a rule. Instead it is preferable to marry only one since it is difficult for a man to give equal and just rights to all his wives. It cannot be said that a muslim who has more than one wife is a better muslim that the one who has only one wife.
The concept behind the permission of having more than one wives is that Islam wants to safeguard the rights of every woman.
The statistics shows that the female population is more than the male population worldwide and if each and every man is restricted to have only one wife there would be thousands of woman left who could not find a life partner because of saturation. Also medical science tells us that man is more sexual than a woman and sometimes woman during her menstrual cycles and while being pregnant are not able to satisfy the needs for their husbands. In order to prevent the man from using extramarital relationship for his needs he is allowed to marry more than one wife putting a responsibility on him to give equal rights to all his wives. This system helps prevents corruption and gives a pure way of living.
For the similar reasons a man can have more than one wife but a woman cannot have more than one husband as it will exaggerate the problem of females not getting their husbands as well as a woman due to her biological makeup will not be able to fulfill the responsibility of more than one husbands.

2. Women are confined to their Houses:
Many people think that in Islam a woman is confined at home and is not allowed to go outside without the permission of their husbands or male family members. Actually Islam safeguards the woman and wants her to keep her protected. The reason woman should stay at home is that in that way they will be able to give time to their children and fulfill the responsibilities at home but this does not mean that she is not at all allowed to leave the home. Woman can go to get education and can even pursue a job that is within the islamic limitations. More so she is allowed to use the money she earns on her own self and is not bound to give it to her husband, instead all the financial responsibilities are on the man and not on the woman according to Islamic law.

3. Hijab Or Covering the Body:
It is a common thinking that Islam subjugates a woman by forcing her to cover her body when in public. This ruling is only to protect the modesty of woman and prevent them from being molested.  The Quran mentions it has Chapter 33 verse 59 as
     Oh Prophet, tell thy wives and daughters and the believing women that they should cast their      outer garments, over their person (when outside) that is most convenient that they should be known as such and not molested.
A woman can well take part in activities like going for a job, getting education, driving etc while having her self covered modestly and preventing herself from the evil looks of man around her. Islam wants a woman not to be used for pleasure and so even orders men to lower their gaze and guide their modesty.