The integration of women into professions and fields that were previously meant only for men.
Unlike men, many of the women who achieved breakthroughs did not do so in new fields,
but rather in familiar territory from which they had previously been barred.
The breakthroughs were not in a single distinct discipline and were accomplished thanks to the women’s efforts in a number of areas,
made with a high degree of modesty. By making inroads into those fields as individuals,
they paved the way for the women who followed them,
often facing stiff opposition from men which at times turned violent.
Impoverished women usually worked to help their families make a living,
whereas some wealthy women managed communal and commercial enterprises.
The breakthroughs occurred when women started working in professions that required education and were in the past reserved for men only.
In the Western world, this took place parallel to the secularization process that began at the beginning of the 19th century.
About fifty years later, further to the advent of colonialism, a similar process also took place in the Muslim world and in Asia.