22
May
Women, Casualties of the Law in Afghanistan
by Rosalind Adams
0 Comments | Posted by thatgirl in Making Waves
Recently, a law was passed in Afghanistan that immediately caused outrage in the global community. President Obama has called the law “abhorrent” and the United Nations has also called for its review. Named the Shia Family Law, the legislation essentially rolls back the rights of Shi’ite women in the country.
The Shia Family Law is a series of provisions which govern family life among the Shi’ite sect of Islam. One of the most severe aspects of the law is its legalization of marital rape. Husbands are granted the ability to demand sex from their wives every four days. Husbands may also force their wives to wear make-up and dress up, and even restrict them from having a job or receiving an education (in a country where many of the women are already illiterate). Under these laws, Shi’ite women are reduced to little more than mere possessions.
Interestingly, this law singles out Shi’ites, who still make up six million of the people in Afghanistan. While in the U.S, there exists a separation of church and state, Afghanistan is a heavily Islamic country where religion is integral to their constitution and government. Islam is the supreme law of the land (even civil law may not transgress Islamic beliefs) and concessions are made for certain sects of Islam, including Shia. This permits some laws to govern Shi’ite only relations.
In early April, Afghani President Hamid Karzai responded to the protests of other countries, saying he would examine the law again, but little has been done since then. In August, the president is up for re-election, and many feel he has signed this law in order to gain the votes of the Shi’ite sect, needed for a victory. Presidents serve a five-year term in Afghanistan and are elected by a direct vote of the people (Karzai is the only president who has served a term in this nascent democracy).
Karzai pushed the law through both houses of the Parliament, and many of the regular legal processions did not take place. One MP admitted that the law was not even read aloud in the upper house of Parliament. The law was also passed as a package, instead of being passed article by article as is customary (there are well over a hundred articles to the law). A more detailed examination may have halted some of the more extreme provisions from passing into law, considering Afghanistan is one of the world’s leaders in female political representation, with about 28% of their Parliament being women (the Afghanistan constitution requires that 25% of representatives are female).
An interesting turn of events came just a couple of weeks ago when about 200 Afghan women took to the streets themselves, marching to Parliament with a signed petition against the law. The women were greeted by many more angry counter demonstrators, screaming “whores!” at them. One thing is quite clear here though: even Afghan women will not stand for these laws. This is not simply a matter of a cultural difference. This is a purely political move and the livelihood of Shi’ite women is being sacrificed in the process.