In her writings, Fatema Mernissi remarks that “if women's rights are a problem for some modern Muslim men, it is neither because of the Qur'an nor the Prophet Muhammad, nor the Islamic tradition, but simply because those rights conflict with the interests of a male elite”. She questions the social norm a man is “dishonoured” if a woman in their family works outside of a domestic space. She asserts that in the male mind society is divided into an economically productive section that is public and male and a domestic sphere that is private and female and that these two areas should not mix.