Gender segregation exists in most Mosques in the world today where women and men are in seperate spaces or rooms in a Mosque. In some places women can't attend mosques at all.
This has not always been the case and an interesting paper by Nevin Reda, a Muslim woman and Canadian academic explores gender segregation in Mosques in a paper titled: 'Women in the Mosque:Historical Perspectives on Segregation'
https://s3.amazonaws.com/academia.edu.documents/46320764/reda-womeninmosque_1_.pdf?response-content-disposition=inline; filename=Women_in_the_Mosque_Historical_Perspect.pdf&X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=AKIAIWOWYYGZ2Y53UL3A/20190803/us-east-1/s3/aws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20190803T052540Z&X-Amz-Expires=3600&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Signature=ca4126555a669a0deda408a920c2e59c9e00370bfed53afb09d24f8764f4989f
Nevin Reda - WISE Muslim Women
Her paper deals with the issue of women’s full or partial access to the mosque from 610 - 925 AD. This period is divided into two time frames. The first, 610 - 634 AD, consists mainly of the time in which the Prophet Muhammad was active in Mecca and Medina. The second, 634 - 925 AD, is the period beginning with Umar’s reign to the time when the Hadith literature was written down and set into the well-known compilations.
Nevin Reda argues the Quran is used as a primary source for the first period, whereas the Hadith
literature is used as a primary source for the second period.
From the primary sources available for the first period, there does not appear to be any evidence of segregation; rather the evidence indicates that women had full access to the mosque. In the second period, three trends appear: a pro-segregation trend, an anti-segregation trend, and a trend that sought to prohibit women from going to the mosque altogether.
The Quranic verses which address the interaction of men and women in the social context include:
Tell the believing men to lower their gaze and to be mindful of their chastity: this will be most conducive to their purity – (and,) verily, Allah is aware of all that they do. And tell the believing women to lower their gaze and to be mindful of their chastity, and not to display their charms beyond what may be apparent thereof; hence let them draw their veils over their bosoms and do not show their adornments except to their husbands or their fathers or their husbands' fathers or their sons or their husbands' sons or their brothers or their brothers' sons or their sisters' sons or their women or what their right hands possess or male servants free of sexual desires or those children who never knows the private things of women; and do not stamp their feet so that it may show their hidden adornments; and repent towards God collectively O believers so that you may succeed.
Qur'an, Sura 24 (An-Nur), ayat 27-31[10]
O Prophet, tell your wives and your daughters and the women of the believers to bring down over themselves [part] of their outer garments. That is more suitable that they will be known and not be abused. And ever is Allah Forgiving and Merciful.
Qur'an, Sura 33 (Al-Ahzab), ayat 59[11]
So should women and men remain segregated in mosques in this modern age? Is it any business of non-Muslims whether they do or they don't? Isn't it for Muslims to decide themselves?
This has not always been the case and an interesting paper by Nevin Reda, a Muslim woman and Canadian academic explores gender segregation in Mosques in a paper titled: 'Women in the Mosque:Historical Perspectives on Segregation'
https://s3.amazonaws.com/academia.edu.documents/46320764/reda-womeninmosque_1_.pdf?response-content-disposition=inline; filename=Women_in_the_Mosque_Historical_Perspect.pdf&X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=AKIAIWOWYYGZ2Y53UL3A/20190803/us-east-1/s3/aws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20190803T052540Z&X-Amz-Expires=3600&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Signature=ca4126555a669a0deda408a920c2e59c9e00370bfed53afb09d24f8764f4989f
Nevin Reda - WISE Muslim Women
Her paper deals with the issue of women’s full or partial access to the mosque from 610 - 925 AD. This period is divided into two time frames. The first, 610 - 634 AD, consists mainly of the time in which the Prophet Muhammad was active in Mecca and Medina. The second, 634 - 925 AD, is the period beginning with Umar’s reign to the time when the Hadith literature was written down and set into the well-known compilations.
Nevin Reda argues the Quran is used as a primary source for the first period, whereas the Hadith
literature is used as a primary source for the second period.
From the primary sources available for the first period, there does not appear to be any evidence of segregation; rather the evidence indicates that women had full access to the mosque. In the second period, three trends appear: a pro-segregation trend, an anti-segregation trend, and a trend that sought to prohibit women from going to the mosque altogether.
The Quranic verses which address the interaction of men and women in the social context include:
Tell the believing men to lower their gaze and to be mindful of their chastity: this will be most conducive to their purity – (and,) verily, Allah is aware of all that they do. And tell the believing women to lower their gaze and to be mindful of their chastity, and not to display their charms beyond what may be apparent thereof; hence let them draw their veils over their bosoms and do not show their adornments except to their husbands or their fathers or their husbands' fathers or their sons or their husbands' sons or their brothers or their brothers' sons or their sisters' sons or their women or what their right hands possess or male servants free of sexual desires or those children who never knows the private things of women; and do not stamp their feet so that it may show their hidden adornments; and repent towards God collectively O believers so that you may succeed.
Qur'an, Sura 24 (An-Nur), ayat 27-31[10]
O Prophet, tell your wives and your daughters and the women of the believers to bring down over themselves [part] of their outer garments. That is more suitable that they will be known and not be abused. And ever is Allah Forgiving and Merciful.
Qur'an, Sura 33 (Al-Ahzab), ayat 59[11]
So should women and men remain segregated in mosques in this modern age? Is it any business of non-Muslims whether they do or they don't? Isn't it for Muslims to decide themselves?