Firstly what do you think an imam’s basic job is?
From what I know the imam leads the community in prayers, and gives talks (khtabs)
You would like proof from the Quran or sunnah…………..well in Quran I cannot find anything but I certainly can provide you evidence form the sunnah.
The ijma is that women are not allowed to lead men in prayer and if she does then the prayer is nullified. Have there been any reports that women lead men at the time of the Mohamed? No, there has not. Your prophet never said to a woman or chose a woman to lead Prayers in the mosque during the whole 16 years between the prescription of Prayer in Makkah and his death in Madinah.
The best of the men's prayer-rows is the first and the worst the last, while the best of the women's prayer-rows is the last and the worst is the first."
“No nation shall succeed that is led by a woman." Al-Bukhari and Muslim from Abu Bakrah
Hmmm an imam guides the community, from this hadith it’s clear woman in Islam are not to be in charge of men!………..so can they be leading men in prayer? Also you simply asked why woman cannot be imams, what do you mean by this? You have to be specific, a woman can be a scholar and an imam………………but she is to only lead woman in prayers!
A small number of scholars allow women to lead men who are her maharam, if she is the most learned amongst them and in the confines of her home as Umm Waraqah was ordered to do so and so was Aisha. Umm Waraqah lead only the members of her household in Prayer, she was not given an order to lead the Prayer in the mosque.
It is clearly not allowed from the Sunnah for a Woman to lead mixed prayer, As for women leading women, imam shaf'i, imam hanafi and imam hanbal allow a woman to be imam to other women.
Now a recent controversy over this, you may have heard of it or not.
Amina Wadud
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Amina Wadud is an Associate Professor of Islamic Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) in Richmond, Virginia, having joined that university after a stint as Assistant Professor at the International Islamic University in Malaysia, a post she had held since 1989. Wadud's reseach specialities include Gender and Qur'anic Studies. She wrote a landmark book on the subject, Qur'an and Woman: Rereading the Sacred Text from a Woman's Perspective. The first edition of the book, published by Sisters in Islam in Malaysia continues to be used all over the world as a basic text for activists and academics alike. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Michigan, and, during graduate school, she studied Arabic in Egypt at the American University in Cairo, Cairo University, and Al-Azhar University. After publishing her first book, she spoke at universities and various other gatherings throughout the United States and abroad, for example, in Jordan, South and Southern Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Pakistan, Indonesia, Canada, Norway, Netherlands, Sarajevo, Spain, and Malaysia.
Friday Prayer
Wadud was the cause of controversy in March 2005 when she led a Friday prayer for a group of Muslims in New York City, a job usually reserved for men. Wadud was the subject of much debate and Muslim juristic discourse after leading a Friday prayer congregation of over 100 men and women in the Episcopal cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York on March 18, 2005, breaking with the tradition of having only male imams. Three mosques had refused to host the service, while an art gallery was persuaded through a bomb threat to refuse the service as well. (The event was not the first time in the history of Islam that a woman had led the Friday prayer. See Women as imams for a discussion of the issue.)
In August 1994, Wadud delivered a Friday khutbah (sermon) on "Islam as Engaged Surrender" at the Claremont Main Road Mosque in Cape Town, South Africa. At the time, this too was largely unheard of in the Muslim world. As a result, there were attempts in Virginia by some Muslims to have her removed from her position at Virginia Commonwealth University.
There has been much objection and some support from Muslims around the world to Wadud's imamate. She has also reportedly been threatened by some conservative Muslims. In spite of the criticism, Wadud has continued her speaking engagements, and has continued to lead mixed-gender Friday prayer services. On October 28, 2005, following her talk at the International Congress on Islamic Feminism in Barcelona, Spain, she was invited to lead a congregation of about thirty people.
Media appearance
She appeared on WNYC radio on July 14, 2006; there she discussed the issue of her activities of bringing women into a gender-mixed Friday prayer service.
Muslims response:
In Saudi Arabia, Grand Mufti Abdul-Aziz qal-Sheik spoke out against it in Friday prayers at a Riyadh mosque.
"Those who defended this issue are violating God's law," he said. "Enemies of Islam are using women's issues to corrupt the community."
Soad Saleh, who heads the Islamic department of the women's college at Al-Azhar University considered the act apostacy, which is punishable by death in Islam.
"It is categorically forbidden for women to lead prayers [if they include men worshippers] and intentionally violates the basics of Islam," she said. She said women should not lead prayers because "the woman's body, even if it is veiled, stirs desire."
Abdul-Moti Bayoumi, of the Islamic Research Center at Al-Azhar, said Wadud had carried out "a bad and deviant innovation" that contradicted the Prophet Mohammed's sayings and deeds
Regards,
Ella