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SHS Papers in Women’s Studies/ Gender Research
No. 4 WOMEN IN PERSONAL STATUS LAWS: IRAQ, JORDAN, LEBANON, PALESTINE, SYRIA Gihane Tabet

July 2005

Gender Equality and Development Section Division of Human Rights Social and Human Sciences Sector UNESCO 1 rue Miollis 75732 Paris cedex 15, France Website: www.unesco.org/shs/gender

WOMEN IN PERSONAL STATUS LAWS: IRAQ, JORDAN, LEBANON,PALESTINE, SYRIA Gihane Tabet1

Introduction The objective of this paper is to explain the legal system as it pertains to women's rights in the Middle East. We will limit our study to inequalities in marriage, inheritance, and nationality in Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, and Syria, which have in common a traditional and patriarchal system in which family law is based on interpretations of Sharia(Islamic religious) law. Sources of information are legal texts, government reports, reviews, and interviews. A religious state, as opposed to a secular state, establishes religion as a pertinent differentiating factor. Family Law, which is of interest to us here, thus falls into categories: a Muslim and a non-Muslim will not depend on the same legal regimes. Obviously, beyond being different,these legal regimes are never egalitarian. This inequality, which is not only legal but also political and social, is also the case for women. In these countries with a majority Muslim population, the laws and norms that apply to men and women are distinct, and unequal. In light of this inequality, discrimination against women will be at the heart of our report. At stake in this study is anunderstanding of the complex processes that make up the foundation of the legal system. Is there a link between the text of the Qur'an and unequal laws? It is usually thought that the Qu’ran sets down laws that determine moral standards. It is certainly important to go into depth in the analysis in order to understand how customs tend to justify themselves. Customs often justify themselves by invoking thesacred text as a foundation when they could alternatively be seen as mere interpretations by a patriarchal system trying to remain in force.2 Is it possible to conceive Islamic laws that, through an enlightened interpretation, could be accommodating to non discriminatory laws? One may also ask whether certain laws and norms established for specific purposes and in a specific context a thousandyears ago retain their relevance in changed social, political, and economic circumstances. The Qu’ran being the recognized source of current law, it is advisable to first look into the text itself to see what could justify the inequalities present in the law. Tensions between Islamic Law and Human Rights focus on three points: marriage, inheritance, and nationality. We now propose to shed light onthese specific notions to understand how they are embodied in the personal status laws peculiar to each country under review. It will thus be necessary to identify these notions and understand them before calling them into question.

1

Intern, SHS/HRS/GED, summer 2004. This paper was supervised and edited by Valentine Moghadam. This paper reflects the views of the author and not of UNESCO. 2http://www.wluml.org/french/pubs/rtf/dossiers/dossier11-12-13/D11-12-13-14-por-fond.rtf WLUML File June 11-12-13th, 1996 “Why Fundamentalism? Iranian Women’s Support for Islam” Haleh Afshar.

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I. Brief Description of Three Areas of Friction Marriage
a. Religious-based Marriage

In principle, the fact of entering into an Islamic marriage in a Muslim country, no matter where, goes hand inhand with the application of Islamic law, and all of the consequences that it implies in the event of marital dissolution. It should be pointed out that women neither lose their identity nor their assets in marriage. In the Qu’ran, marriage is in fact a flexible arrangement, made through mutual consent, and according to which women are expected to be “obedient”3, but in return, they can expect...