The New Nation - Internet Edition

Identical marriage law to ensure rights of women of all faiths

Konika Biswas

Madhuri Dutta, an NGO worker in her early 30s, got married eight years ago. Her husband, Ayan, works in a multinational company. The couple lives in a nice apartment of Dhaka city with their two lovely kids. Even then Madhuri is always concerned about her future.

Her marriage with Ayan took place as per their Hindu tradition without any document. Their relationship as a husband and a wife was sealed in front of a priest and some relatives.

Madhuri trusted this man and came to him forever leaving behind her family, relying on his verbal promise he made during the marriage. But, there is s no hard proof. She sometimes thinks what if her husband refuses to live up to his oral commitment and leave her. Madhuri also worries whether she will able to keep the children with her should she have to leave the family.

Kalpana Roy, 25, of Khulna is also worried like Madhuri. Kalpana was married off with day-labourer Amiya Roy when she was only 16. Her husband is just double her age. The marriage took place in a temple. Later, she was subject to torture by her in-laws for dowry. They want to drive her away as her parents cannot meet their demand for dowry. But, poor Kalpana has nothing to do. In the Hindu community, when a woman is abandoned by her husband she is virtually abandoned by the society. If so, she will never be able to recourse to law because Hindu marriages are not registered. Kalpana has no written legal document with which a lawyer can fight for her.

Steps Towards Development, an NGO, recently organised a dialogue on possible identical marriage and divorce law. A woman who took part in it says, My husband always threatens me to quit saying there is no proof that Im his wife. He can relinquish the responsibilities any time he wants.

Madhuri and Kalpanas cases are two of the many examples that could be cited to prove how minority women suffer for lack of identical family laws.

Hindu women suffer most, as prejudice is widespread in the community. Problems like Satidah (women burning themselves with their husbandscorpses), widow marriage and early marriage have been resolved after decades of movement thanks to social reformers like Raja Rammohon Roy, Ishwar Chandra Biddyasagar, Debendranath and others for their pioneering role in this regard. According to Hindu and Buddhist family laws in Bangladesh, there is no scope for registration of marriage and divorce. The Hindu community leaders are not yet vocal to raise the demand for enacting a law making marriage registration mandatory and having a legal provision in place for divorce. The Hindu women cannot assert their role in the family for lack of such laws. In Bangladesh, marriages and all family matters are regulated by four separate family laws enacted during the British period. Under these laws, there are provisions of marriage registration and written agreement for Muslims and Christians. Although there is a provision of divorce in the Muslim family law, there is no such provision for the Christians. According to Hindu family law, marriage is not an agreement; its rather a religious norm, bondage and social affairs. As per Hindi scripture, marriage is inseparable. In cases of Buddhists and tribal people, there is no provision for divorce. Most of the existing family laws in the country were formulated by the British colonial rulers, aiming to consolidate their rule in the Indian subcontinent. The post-independence Bangladesh governments kept in place the family laws that are discriminatory from religious point of view. No significant amendments have been made so far. There is one common negative aspect in these family laws no liberty for women in case of a marriage. If there is some liberty in some aspects, that is much less than men. A Muslim man can divorce his wife without showing any reason, but a Muslim woman cannot divorce her husband if he does not give permission on the marriage settlement paper.

This is not good to have separate marriage and divorce laws for different religions in one country. It only affects the social equilibrium. Experts feel the necessity of an identical marriage registration and divorce law with one single guideline for every adult of the country. According to them, marriage ceremonies can be held in different ways there is no problem. But, brides and grooms will have to inform the state in writing that they want to get married. In an independent country, marriage registration has to be identical for all religions and marriage registration must be mandatory.

They say the marriage certificate will have to be issued by government-appointed special registrars, not by Kazis (who conduct Muslim marriage) and Thakurs (Hindu priests).

In this regard, Supreme Court lawyer Ziad Al Malum says, In Bangladesh 97 percent laws are civil laws while the tiny rest is family laws. And, these family laws have made the womens lives miserable. We must carry out a campaign for civil laws in case of marriage. Now, social awareness is required for enacting laws in favour of women.

If identical laws can be introduced, lawyers says, it will help the government implement governments programmes like birth registration, preventing early marriage and dowry. It will also help solve a number of other social problems.

Fostina Perrera, a lawyer of Ain o Shalish Kendra, told a seminar that the state must be more responsible in dealing with the issue that affects minorities more. The marriage law should be simple so that everyone can use it. And there should be a common platform to have solution to it.

Citing Indias example, Fostina says, The government in India has made marriage registration on its own. In fact, there was no movement for it. Civil Law is now recognised by the government.

She says the government, in any country, must have all the information regarding marriage to avoid social disorder.

Experts say marriage registration has other benefits too. Marriage registration can help raise government revenue, check the bad culture of dowry, ensure human rights of women and improve our lifestyle, says lawyer Ziad Al Malum. He is right.

Patriarchy and violence against women

The traditional patriarchal society of Bangladesh is based on class and gender divisions. Class mobility allows movement between rich and poor, but the division of social space and the difference in behavioral norms between men and women are rigidly maintained. The family, which constitutes the basic unit of social control, sets the norm for male and female roles. Within this system, the father, or in his absence, the next male kin, is the head of the household. As a result, both decision-making powers and economic control are vested in the hands of men. Furthermore, the family operates through a clearly defined system of rights and obligations. This is demonstrated when Muslim women waive the right to inherit their fathers' property in favor of brothers or in the event of inheriting property, pass control to their husbands or sons. In both cases, the man gives protection to the woman in return for control over her property, thus directly reinforcing a patriarchal tradition.

Over time, Bangladesh's patrilineal system has given high value to sons as potential providers and perpetrators of family names. They receive preferential treatment and access to education, better nutrition, and health care. Women, on the other hand, are generally viewed in their reproductive roles and are given a subsidiary status as economic dependents. Society has dictated that daughters are temporary members of their natal homes. Since they are perceived as nonproductive members of the family, daughters have little access to education, especially in poor families. Scarce resources are invested in the sons as potential providers. Although girls' enrollment at the primary level has increased remarkably, from around 50-80 percent between the 1980s and 1996, their dropout rate is much higher than boys from the secondary level onwards. Parents are reluctant to send daughters to school because they fear for the daughters' safety, as chastity and the reputation of unmarried girls are crucial factors that determine her value in the eyes of her potential husband and in-laws. Girls are viewed as potential mothers and homemakers, thus priority is given to their training in domestic chores rather than to their right to an education.

A woman, on an average, is married before reaching the age of 20 years (BBS 1998). Since marriage, among other things, transfers guardianship of the bride from her father to her husband, permission for further education, employment, hospitalization, or any other disposal of a married woman's time outside her conjugal residence is to be sought from her husband. On the average a Bangladeshi woman has four pregnancies in her lifetime and she needs to consolidate her position in the new family by giving birth to male children. In general, as head of the household, the husband makes most of the important decisions. By the time she reaches 50 years of age, one woman out of four in Bangladesh is expected to be either divorced or widowed. Sociocultural norms have discouraged remarriage for widows and divorced women, so they comprise 90 percent of the widowed and 94 percent of the divorced population. Abandoned women are yet another category, constituting the majority of the hard-core poor who enter the labor market for survival, as heads of their households. Increasingly, however, women are becoming more active in both domestic affairs and public life. Women's increasing labor force participation and public Country Briefing Paper-Women in Bangladesh awareness efforts by NGOs and the mass media have played an important role in encouraging this.

News of rape, assault, trafficking, death due to dowry, etc., are common features of Bangladeshi society. The four broad categories of violence against women in Bangladesh are domestic violence, violence at the workplace, trafficking in women and forced prostitution, and sexual abuse.

The present form and nature of trafficking can be explained by poverty and social disintegration. The spread of wage employment or bonded labor such as domestic labor, women working in the sex trade (mail-order brides), in entertainment (e.g., camel jockeys), child abuse, and organ trading can be identified as demand factors. Supply factors are the economic situation and social vulnerability (e.g., a poor abandoned woman might give her child for labor more easily than a more affluent woman), and frequent natural disasters (due to which many shelter less and abandoned children and women result). Bangladesh's location (adjacent land border of 4,222 km with India and 288 km with Myanmar) facilitates trafficking of women as it is loosely patrolled. Common means of trafficking are kidnapping; abduction; marital migration (through fake marriage); selling of small children by parents, guardians, and close relatives; selling of wives by their husbands; and deceiving migrant workers.

Recently, violence against women has reached another dimension with the rise in the number of trials through the "fatwa" (religious judgments) in rural areas. Village elders usually form a "shalish" or tribunal to settle some local disputes. This traditional custom of excluding women in the rural shalish can be manipulated by the local mullahs (religious leaders) and the social elite to find women guilty of extramarital sexual affairs and other acts. Punishments are meted out (in accordance with religious laws as interpreted locally) in contravention to the existing penal code. Some women were flogged publicly and a few among them have committed suicide. Prompt protest and local actions by women's organizations, NGOs, and human rights groups forced local administrators to take legal measures against the perpetrators.

Several legal measures were adopted to safeguard women's legal rights. In 1983, the Cruelty to Women Ordinance was promulgated. This law made kidnapping, trafficking, rape, attempt to cause death, acid throwing, etc., as offenses with a maximum penalty of lifetime imprisonment or the death sentence. The Anti-Terrorism Ordinance (1992) provided for punishment for all kinds of terrorism including harassing and abducting women and children. The Immoral Trafficking Act (1993) provides for punishment for forcing a girl into prostitution. In 1995, the Women and Child Repression (Special Provision) Act was enacted. It provides capital punishment to offenders. An increasing incidence of rape and violation of women by the police and law enforcement agencies in several well-publicized cases brought to light loopholes in its execution. Hence, the Act has been revised and renamed as the Women and Child Repression Prevention Act of 2000. In spite of these provisions, loopholes in existing laws, lack of proper implementation, and the weak commitment of law enforcement agencies are major obstacles. It may be concluded that laws alone cannot be the only deterrent against violence. They must be backed up by conscious public opinion, prompt action, and efforts to change society's attitude towards women.

(Source: Country Briefing Paper-Women in Bangladesh)

Women in politics

Women have been more politically stable in the last two decades. A quota has ensured women's presence in the local government and National Parliament. Among women politicians, the older group entered politics through social work, while some among them and the new generation of have emerged from student politics. Despite many odds, statistics and analyses reveal a slowly growing trend towards women's political participation. However, they face an ominous challenge. There has also been a growing influence of money in Bangladesh politics, particularly in electoral politics and in guarding/promoting spheres of influence. This acts as a further constraint on women's political participation since fewer women have access to financial resources. It is very difficult for women to work effectively in this system unless such practices are eradicated.

After the 2001 elections, there were 6 women directly elected to the 300-member Parliament. The number of seats reserved for women had been increased to 45 from 30 seats that had been reserved in the previous Parliament. Party affiliation depends on membership drives and on the organizational and electoral needs of each party. The actual number of women members in different political parties, however, cannot be determined, since gender-specific records are not maintained. Nevertheless, a slow trend towards women's greater participation has emerged over the decade. As party workers, women render valuable contributions in the mobilization of voters, especially among other women. Although there are only a few women in leadership positions, their numbers have increased over the last two decades.

There is limited female involvement in party hierarchical structures. However, women occupy the top leadership positions in each of the two largest parties. They became leaders during crisis periods and have been successful as driving forces and unifying factors of their respective parties. Significantly, neither of them inherited the mantle of leadership when their party was in power. Once placed in the position of leadership, they were able to generate their own dynamics and momentum to lead their parties through difficult times. Nevertheless, their close and inner circle of advisors mostly consists of men. In occupying the role of a leader in public life, they have perhaps contributed to liberalizing values in a predominantly Muslim culture where traditionally men had exclusive prerogative in politics. They played a crucial role toward democratization and brought about a certain degree of continuity into the political process. They have a strong potential to be positive role models for women of all ages in Bangladesh, provided they demonstrate a commitment to gender equity by involving more women in their parties and in government. The election manifestos and constitutions of different political parties reveal that there is little emphasis on gender equality in party platforms.

Although women do not hold key positions during the electoral process, they make significant contributions during election campaigns by taking part in organizing public meetings, processions, and rallies. Women leaders and party workers engage in the task of mobilizing and canvassing voters, particularly women, for their party candidates. By making special arrangements such as separate election booths for women, and females presiding as polling officers, the turnout rate of women voters has increased. During the general elections of 1991 and 1996, and local level elections in 1993 and 1997, the level of enthusiasm among women to exercise their voting rights was very encouraging. Because of the special arrangements and security measures taken by the Government, there were few disturbances and the presence of women in polling centers was significant.

Women were first elected to local bodies in 1973. The Government of Bangladesh enacted a law for direct elections to reserve seats for women in local level elections. In 1997 through an Act, the Government reserved three seats for women in the union parishad where women members are elected from each of the three respective wards. Apart from the reserved seats women can also contest for any of the general seats. Previously, the process of selection of the women representatives was on the basis of nominations and/or indirect election. Around 12,828 women were elected as members in the 1997 local level elections. A total of 20 and 110 women were elected as chairpersons and members, respectively, for general seats. The Government has already issued different executive orders to ensure women members' participation in various decision-making committees. The majority of women representatives regularly attended parishad meetings, but only a few of them participated in the deliberations and decisions. The female representatives usually involved themselves with mass education, family planning, immunization, handicrafts, relief activity, and shalish (mediation in the village court). The women representatives have the potentials to become change agents for rural women and various NGOs. A few government institutions such as the National Institute of Local Government are training women on various development-related issues, legal aid, and organizational structure of local bodies and their roles and functions to enable them play their role effectively.

Although two women Prime Ministers have headed the Government for sixteen years and the leaders of the opposition in Parliament were also women, this does not reflect the gender composition of participation and decision making at the highest policy level. At the ministerial level, women's representation has never risen above 3 percent. Apart from being Prime Minister, others were state or deputy ministers responsible for insignificant ministries such as Culture, Social Welfare, and Women.