Islam removed some of the false notions about woman. It for instance refuted the idea that Eve tempted Adam to disobey God, and thus caused his downfall. The Qur'an explicitly says that they both disobeyed and negates the idea that the woman is a source of evil. The Qur'an mentions some of the women with great respect, ea. This clearly puts woman on a pedestal of personal and social respectability they never enjoyed before.
Islamic civilization rests on two cardinal principles.
One, belief in God, and that He is the Lord and Creator of all humans. As such all humans are equal and have similar rights and obligations as servants of God. In other words they are children of the same parents, members of one family, and have similar rights and duties. If the first principle represents God-man bond, the second stands for blood ties or man's relationship with his fellow men and women. Islam elevated the position of woman in society and treated her on an equal footing with man, and in some cases, as a mother for instance, clearly gave her precedence over man.