Now, this concept is being exploited, and girls in Somalia are being sold to wealthy businessmen for one night, or two nights, as a form of prostitution, and it is all being done in the name of Islam. It is this manipulation and misinterpretation of Islam that must be corrected. The impact of Islam on women's lives goes beyond the misinterpretation. In preserving the culture and the belief system of communities in the Horn, it is necessary to examine the role that women play in establishing cultural identity, and how discriminatory practices become legitimate for the sake of preserving culture and tradition. Ironically, when it comes to a question of women's rights in the Sharia, there is little room for flexibility.
Some Islamic laws governing women's lives are discriminatory.
Laws governing family, divorce, and property do not treat women and men equally. It goes against what is just to think that the testimony of a woman is only worth half that of a man's. Perhaps these laws are subject to interpretation, but their very existence as legal doctrine institutionalizes and perpetuates discrimination against women. As for laws governing property and inheritance, although they may have granted rights and protection to women at a time when they did not have such any such rights, these laws have played a significant role in reinforcing discrimination against women. They have given men and women unequal access to land and property, and they have guaranteed women's dependence on male guardians, thereby implying a power dynamic that affects women's lives from the day that they are born.