"The history of Islam is fulled with great women from amongst the
ulema! This is extracted from 'Aisha Bewley's 'Islam: The Empowering
of Women'

'A'isha, the wife of the Prophet, said, "How splendid are the women
of the Ansar. Modesty did not prevent them from becoming learned in
the deen."

The Prophet (peace be upon him) told his companions: "Take half
your deen from Humayra (A'isha).

Abu Musa al-Ash'ari said :"Wheneever we, the Companions of the
Prophet, encountered any difficulty in the matter of any hadith we
referred it to 'A'isha and found that she had definite knowledge
about it".

Urwa ibn az-Zubayr stated: "I did not see a greater scholar
than 'A'isha in the learning of the Qur'an, shares of inheritance,
lawful and unlawful matters, poetry and literature, Arab history and
genealogy.

Ibn al-Jawzi said that Hisham ibn Urwa said to 'A'isha, "Umm, I am
not surprised at your knowledge of poetry since you are the daughter
of Abu Bakr and he was the most knowledgeable of people (in poetry),
but I marvel at your knowledge of medicine."

While 'A'isha was the most famous of the women who the Muslims
looked to for knowledge, the rest of the Prophet's wives and female
Companions were known for their knowledge as well....like Umm Sulaym, Umm ad-Darda', Fatima bint Qays al-'Adawiyya, and other women after them. People use to receive knowledge and instruction from these women as they received it from men. Many of the ulema were women:

Nafsa bint al-Hasan : She was a descendant of 'Ali, and was such an
authority on hadith that Imam Shafi'i sat in her circle in al-Fustat
when he was at the height of his fame in Egypt.

Karima bint Ahmad al-Marwazziya: She lived to be a hundred and died
in Makka in the middle of the fifth/eleventh century. She was the
foremost authority on the text of al-Bukhari because of her excellent sources.

Shuhda bint Abi Nasr Ahmad al-Ibari: She was considered to be one of
the best scholars of her age. She was known as al-Katiba (the writer) and Fakhr an-Nisa. She taught al-Bukhari and other works to large number of students. She lectured publicly in one of the main mosques of Baghdad on various topics."

The emphasis of the women learning their deen was a emphasis in the
Sokoto Caliphate founded by Shaykh Uthman Dan Fodio. The Shaykh says
in his 'Irshad al-Ikhwan that if the husband is not able to supply
knowledge of the deen to his wife, she is under an Islamic obligation to out and search for it.

"The ruler should compel the husband to have his wife educated,
just as he should compel him to give her adequate maintenance;
indeed, knowledge is superior (to maintenance)"

Many women during the Sokoto Caliphate in the Hausaland (now
Nigeria)were trained in fiqh(especially with regards to the
complicated fiqh rules of buying and selling) and were appointed as
supervisors of the market-place to ensure that the vendors did not
cheat the people.

The historic role of women in the Islam can not be understated!
Allah the Most High has enobled our women in a great way that should
and can not be underestimated or marginalized!