PAKISTAN: WOMEN CHALLENGING DISCRIMINATORY MUSLIM LAWS

LAHORE, Dic 24 (IPS) - MUSLIM LAWS FOR WOMEN ARE ESSENTIALLY MAN- MADE AND CAN BE CHALLENGED, WAS THE VERDICT OF WOMEN FROM 20 MUSLIM COUNTRIES GATHERED HERE LAST WEEK TO DISCUSS THE LAWS UNDER WHICH THEY ARE GOVERNED.

SEVENTY WOMEN, MAINLY FROM ASIA AND AFRICA, FORMING PART OF THE DECADE-OLD NETWORK CALLED "WOMEN LIVING UNDER MUSLIM LAWS" (WLUML), ALSO STRESSED THE NEED TO FRAME LAWS THAT TAKE INTO COGNISANCE THEIR RIGHTS AS WOMEN.

"WE WANT THE FREEDOM TO INVENT OR BORROW OR CONSTRUCT THE LAWS WE NEED. WE DO NOT WANT TO BE BOUND BY RELIGION OR CULTURE WHEN IT COMES TO DEFINING OUR RIGHTS AS WOMEN," SAID THE MOVING FORCE BEHIND WLUML, WHO PREFERS TO BE KNOWN SIMPLY AS MERIEM.

MERIEM FLED TO FRANCE FROM HER NATIVE ALGERIA TEN YEARS AGO TO ESCAPE ARREST DURING A WOMEN'S MOVEMENT PROTESTING THE IMPOSITION OF A RETROGRESSIVE FAMILY CODE IN HER COUNTRY. THE CODE WAS IMPOSED, BUT SHE STARTED THE WLUML, WHICH SHE CALLS A NETWORK.

"THE WLUML IS NOT AN ORGANISATION BUT A COORDINATING BODY, LIKE A MAILBOX. WE SIMPLY NETWORK, DISSEMINATE INFORMATION ABOUT EACH OTHER TO EACH OTHER," SHE SAYS.

"THERE IS A NEED TO COMMUNICATE WITH EACH OTHER AND KNOW ABOUT EACH OTHER," SHE ADDS.

THE THREE MAIN ASPECTS OF LAW THAT AFFECT WOMEN IN MUSLIM COUNTRIES ARE THE STATUTE LAWS, MUSLIM PERSONAL LAWS -- CODIFIED IN SOME COUNTRIES AND NOT IN OTHERS-- AND CUSTOMARY LAWS.

"EACH OF THESE LAWS IS DIFFERENT IN ALL OUR COUNTRIES -- WHICH MEANS THAT THOUGH THEY ARE IMPOSED IN THE NAME OF RELIGION, THEY ARE MAN-MADE LAWS. ONCE YOU'VE ACCEPTED THEY ARE MAN-MADE, THEY CAN BE CHANGED," SAID A PAKISTANI PARTICIPANT.

THE PARTICIPANT FROM BANGLADESH TOLD IPS THAT AN ISSUE WHICH MOVED ALL PARTICIPANTS AND WAS DISCUSSED AT LENGTH AT THE WORKING GROUPS AT THE FIVE-DAY MEET WAS THE RISE OF FUNDAMENTALIST RELIGIOUS ORGANISATIONS.

ALL THE PARTICIPANTS AGREED THAT THIS WAS A POLITICAL RATHER THAN RELIGIOUS PHENOMENON, SHE SAID.

"POLITICAL FORCES ARE CREATING DIVISIONS ALONG THE LINES OF CULTURE, RELIGION AND ETHNICITY," SAID MERIEM. "THEY MUST BE CHALLENGED."

"WE DISCUSSED IN THE WORKING GROUPS THAT THIS IS NOT ONLY IN MUSLIM COUNTRIES, AS THE RISE OF THE CHRISTIAN RIGHT IN THE UNITED STATES AND THE RISE OF THE HINDU RIGHT IN INDIA SHOW," SAID THE INDIAN DELEGATE.

© Inter Press Service (2014) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service