Women who are raped have to marry their rapist says Syrian activist Mouna Ghanem.
“She is a victim twice. She is a victim the first time she gets raped and she is a victim the second time because she has to marry the man who raped her,” says Ghanem in an openDemocracy 50/50 podcast.
The Syrian Constitution states that its citizens have equal rights. In the public life, women enjoy norms on par with men. But a personal statement code in the constitution means that a woman’s private life belongs to men.
Another such discriminatory law deals with divorce. Men have the right to divorce without notifying or consulting their wives. But it doesn’t end there. She must also leave the house and is entitled to no financial rights. She has no custody rights and if she were to get the children, the husband does not have to pay any alimony. She is not allowed to remarry.
In Saudi Arabia there are no personal statement codes. Judges instead treat cases one by one. In many cases, women are forced into marriage or are simply written off if any male member, extended or not, wants her to divorce.
Fatima Bent Suleiman Al Azzaz was married to Mansour Ben Attieh El Timani.
When Fatima’s father died, her half-brothers took her to court to get a divorce on the grounds that she came from an “inferior background.” The judge decided in favor of her half-brothers. Fatima refused to recognize the decision and was sent to prison along with her one year old son for a year.
Her husband Mansour also refused to sign the divorce papers. He is now “blacklisted” by the government.
Saudi Arabia ratified the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) but with a reservation. It doesn’t actually have to observe any of its regulations. So why sign it?
The struggle of women around the world is an issue that needs much more attention.
“The problem of violence against women has become so complex that laws and policies worldwide need to be changed to adjust to the reality,” said Yakin Ertürk, the outgoing Special Rapporteur on violence against women.
CEDAW was adopted in 1979 and is like an international bill on women’s rights. But deep rooted discriminatory and sexist attitudes remain. Even some of CEDAW’s own committee members are known to discriminate.
Last July a CEDAW committee member said that lesbians “are a small minority” “who don’t adhere to the prevails of nature.” The committee member then said that sexual orientation and gender discrimination would not be recognized in the committee’s text nor work. A direct violation of its own article 2.
Sigh…
