Women, Islam, and the Moroccan State: The Struggle over the Personal Status Law

2005 ◽  
Vol 59 (3) ◽  
pp. 393-410 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruce Maddy-Weitzman
Keyword(s):  
Family Law ◽  
Women's Groups ◽  
New Family ◽  
Women’S Groups ◽  
Political Forces ◽  
Personal Status ◽  
The Status ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Status Code ◽  
Status Of Women

Since 1991, the status of women in Morocco has been the subject of widespread debate. Efforts by women's groups and liberal political forces to change the Shari'a-based Personal Status Code (moudawwana), were vigorously opposed by conservative and Islamist forces. For both sides, the issue was central to their overall orientations towards “tradition” and “modernity”. King Muhammad VI ultimately tipped the balance in favor of change. The resulting new Family Law may well mark a milestone in Moroccan society's evolution.

Judicial Activism and Islamic Family Law: A Socio-Legal Evaluation of Recent Trends in Bangladesh

2007 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 204-239 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ridwanul Hoque ◽  
MD. Morshed Mahmud Khan
Keyword(s):  
South Asian ◽  
Family Law ◽  
Judicial Reform ◽  
Judicial Activism ◽  
The Status ◽  
Recent Trends ◽  
Islamic Family Law ◽  
Traditional Construction ◽  
Status Of Women

AbstractThis article critically examines instances of judicial activism in the field of Islamic family law in Bangladesh in an attempt to assess this judicial trend. Seeing 'judicial activism' mainly as an enlightened application of ijtihād and also as society-specific application of statutes based on, or related to sharī'ah, we highlight the justice-ameliorative role of this concept. The authors argue that judicial activism has led to the amelioration of the status of women in Bangladesh as compared to a traditional construction of the sharī'ah, and that judges have adequate authority and legitimacy to develop Islamic family law to ensure better justice in the home. We conclude that modernist judicial reform is not only desirable but also inevitable in the current South Asian socio-legal milieu, where legislative passivity vis-à-vis Islamic family law prevails.

The Muslim Surgeon and Contemporary Ethical Dilemmas Surrounding the Restoration of Virginity

Hawwa ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 5 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 324-349 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vardit Rispler-Chaim
Keyword(s):  
Young Women ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Ethical Dilemmas ◽  
The Status ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Women And Girls ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Scientific Technology ◽  
Status Of Women

AbstractIn the last few decades surgeons have been able to perform an operation that repairs a torn hymen, and thus allows young women and girls whose hymen is not intact to reappear as virgins. Most of the ethical issues related to hymen repair surgery concern the conduct of the surgeon and the question of whether restoration of virginity is a way to deceive husbands. The status of hymen restoration surgery has been the subject of several fatwas issued by leading religious authorities and articles written by Muslim lawyers, physicians and ethicists. Virginity restoration, based on the above sources, appears to have its supporters and opponents. The study of hymen restoration is also related to the status of women in society and their rights, to ancient social taboos, and to the impact of modern scientific technology on society at large.

Interpreting the 2004 Moroccan Family Law: Street-Level Bureaucrats, Women's Groups, and the Preservation of Multiple Normativities

2018 ◽  
Vol 43 (04) ◽  
pp. 1514-1541 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dörthe Engelcke
Keyword(s):  
Family Law ◽  
The State ◽  
Homogeneous State ◽  
Women's Groups ◽  
Cultural Resistance ◽  
Street Level ◽  
Women’S Groups ◽  
Street Level Bureaucrats ◽  
Normative Order ◽  
Enforcement Mechanisms

A decade after celebrating Morocco's 2004 family law as a social revolution, women's groups became dismayed by the persistence of minor marriage, polygyny, and marriage guardianship. Conventional explanations for why statutory law reform often fails to produce intended outcomes depart from the concept of the homogeneous state, pointing to insufficient enforcement mechanisms and cultural resistance to the new law within society. Arguing against this conceptualization, this article adopts the state-in-society approach. It compares how two types of street-level bureaucrats and secular and Islamist women's groups have engaged with the 2004 law. It finds that different groups have emphasized and rejected different categories and norms of the law. Street-level bureaucrats' interpretations have sometimes overlapped with those of civil society actors. The state is therefore not enforcing one normative order against cultural resistance from society; instead, different state actors are themselves actively involved in the production and preservation of multiple normativities.

scholarly journals Personal Status Laws in Arab Countries

1970 ◽  
pp. 6
Author(s):  
Julinda Abu Nasr
Keyword(s):  
Arab Countries ◽  
National Council ◽  
Personal Status ◽  
The Status ◽  
Arabic And English ◽  
International Conventions ◽  
Status Of Women

The Status of Women in Arab Laws in the Light of the U.N. International Conventions is the title of a book of over 600 pages, written in both Arabic and English and issued at the Seminar held by the National Council of Lebanese Women, Beirut, 1974.

scholarly journals Breaking Up the Family: Divorce in Egyptian Law and Practice

Hawwa ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 52-74 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nathalie Bernard-Maugiron ◽  
Baudouin Dupret
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Legal Status ◽  
Family Law ◽  
Legal Reforms ◽  
Effective Implementation ◽  
The Family ◽  
Legal Texts ◽  
Personal Status ◽  
Sociological Approaches ◽  
Status Of Women

AbstractIf the legal status of women wishing to end an unhappy marriage has undoubtedly improved through the codification process of personal status law in Egypt in the twentieth century, it still remains very unequal in comparison to the privileges enjoyed by men in that field. Moreover, the practical effects of these legal reforms can be questioned. This chapter will study marriage breakups in Egypt through both legal and sociological approaches. Legal texts governing family law will first be examined to expose the different ways marriage can be broken up and how the reforms were legitimated by reference to sharî'a principles. Then the various obstacles that impede the effective implementation of these reforms will be exposed, to stress that the study of law should capture the language of law in action and not only of law in books.

scholarly journals The New Family: Challenges to American Family Law

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cynthia Grant Bowman
Keyword(s):  
Family Law ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
The United States ◽  
Social Changes ◽  
Same Sex Couples ◽  
New Family ◽  
Cohabiting Couples ◽  
The Status ◽  
Women And Children ◽  
The Many

22 Child and Family Law Quarterly 387 (2010)The vast demographic and social changes of the twentieth century have produced a variety of new family forms – cohabiting couples, same-sex couples, an increased number of single-parent families, and extended families resulting from divorce, for example. The legal system in the United States has yet adequately to address the legal problems that these new family forms create. This article discusses a number of major issues that arise from this failure, including: (1) the sometimes negative impact of gender-neutral rules in divorce upon women and children; (2) the ambiguity and inadequacy of property and support obligations between cohabitants; (3) the legal incidents of non-residential conjugal relationships; (4) the incomplete revolution in the status of gay and lesbian couples; (5) relationships in the post-divorce family, such as those between stepparents and their stepchildren; and (6) the many conflict of laws questions that arise from inconsistent treatment of these issues by different states.

scholarly journals Gender and Islam in Africa

2012 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 87-90
Author(s):  
Yushau Sodiq
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Gender Equality ◽  
Family Law ◽  
Gender And Sexuality ◽  
Great Contribution ◽  
Religious Texts ◽  
Production Of Knowledge ◽  
The Status ◽  
Class Status ◽  
Status Of Women

Gender and Islam in Africa is a great contribution to the scholarship onAfrican women. The contributors, all of whom come from different disciplines,seek to elevate the status of women by promoting gender equality,human rights, and democracy in androcentric African societies. They appealfor more women to participate in the reshaping and reforming of women’sroles; assert that women were part of Africa’s development; and maintainthat male religious scholars who interpret Islamic religious texts in a way designedto relegate women to second-class status, as opposed to Islam, are theprimary cause of women’s predicaments. This work is divided into threemajor sections: “Women Re/produce Knowledge,” “Re/constructing Women,Gender, and Sexuality,” and “Shari‘ah, Family Law, and Activism.” The contributorscite many examples of female scholars, among them Nana Asma’uand Malama Aishatu Dancandu, and their production of knowledge beforeand after colonialism.

Women and Sport in the 1990s: Reflections on “Embracing Stars, Ignoring Players“

2001 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 318-349 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nancy E. Spencer ◽  
Lisa R. McClung
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
National Basketball Association ◽  
Current Status ◽  
World Cup ◽  
Women In Sport ◽  
The World ◽  
The Status ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Soccer Team ◽  
Status Of Women

Numerous scholars have assessed the status of women in sport during the last decade of the 20th century (Acosta & Carpenter, 2000; Andrews, 1998; Borcila, 2000; Cole, 2000; Eastman & Billings, 1999; McDonald, 1999; Starr & Brant, 1999). Perhaps the nineties can be best characterized by the familiar Dickens adage that “it was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” At a time when the 1999 U.S. Women's soccer team captured the World Cup and the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) enjoyed increasing popularity, it seemed that women's sports were never more visible. So, how could this be the worst of times? While women now receive heretofore-unprecedented coverage, evidence suggests that certain images continue to be privileged over others. In this paper, we assess the current status of women in sport in light of an article that appeared on the subject a decade earlier.

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