IslamicFinance.de

When Malaysian Aida Othman signed up for the new law programme at the Islamic university, she did not expect to become one the few women with their hands on the levers of the world's $1 trillion Islamic finance sector.
Rising global demand for scholars who can advise firms on compliance with Islamic legal principles called sharia is behind the quiet and almost accidental way in which women are growing into a small but powerful force in a male-dominated business.
There are 221 Islamic finance scholars globally but only a handful are in high demand, with the top six occupying almost a third of the 1,054 board positions open to Islamic experts, a Funds@Work report issued this year shows.
This small circle of men dominate the boards of Islamic banks but there are now about 10 women sharia advisers in Malaysia, home to the world's largest market for sukuk, or Islamic bonds.
The number of women sharia scholars in Malaysia has more than tripled in the last five years according to some estimates.
There are no official figures, but practitioners say there are no women sharia advisers in the Middle East.