Personal Matters: Iraqi Women And The Ja'afari Shi'a Sect — "Behind Closed Doors"
14 March 2014
By Diana Moukalled
The Iraqi women protesting in Baghdad—dressed in
black—over the Ja'afari personal status draft law
which the Iraqi cabinet has approved, are linked to
our situation as individuals in general and as women
in particular. It is truly an occasion where we must
all wear black in mourning to mark an inherent
injustice that must not be overlooked.
Personal status laws form the core of social and legal
progress in any society in the world. But when it
comes to Arab countries, these laws have been a sign
of backwardness. Barely any Arab country has been
immune to this, even during the post-revolutionary
era. There remain relapses, and the Iraqi cabinet's
recent decision is such a case.
The suggested Iraqi draft law strips women who belong
to the Ja'afari Shi'a sect of their basic marriage,
divorce and inheritance rights, and worst of all,
permits the marriage of nine-year-old girls. One
cannot but be shocked by the delinquency of those who
approved the draft law, and yet here it is now on its
way to parliament for approval.
Of course, Iraq is not the only country producing
backward phenomena of this kind. The Arab Spring,
which is now passing through a long autumn, has shown
us how we have stumbled on our path toward becoming
free citizens with equal rights.
Of course we won't forget the "efforts" of the Muslim
Brotherhood during Mohamed Mursi's rule to legislate
for exactly the same phenomenon. We won't forget how
marrying off young girls has become a plague in Yemen,
how it has become widespread among displaced Syrians,
and how it is even creeping into Lebanon as well.
A few days ago, Randa Berri, the wife of Lebanon's
speaker of parliament, said it would be difficult to
criminalize marital rape because no one knows what
happens behind closed doors. But the truth is, this
phrase—"behind closed doors"—cuts straight to the
heart of the issue.
Because marrying off young girls—or to be accurate,
raping them—under a legal cover, and violating a
woman's body under the excuse that the assaulter is
her husband, with all the details in the matter filed
under the "men's rights" category and all it entails
of domestic violence, whether sexual in nature of not,
or related to power, mostly happen "behind closed
doors."
Most of the time, legislators in our societies deal
with these issues on the basis that women are
"deficient in faith and intelligence." And it is on
this basis that women's ownership of their minds and
bodies are thus confiscated.
I woke up yesterday to messages celebrating the
occasion of International Women's Day. Google too
celebrated the same event and media outlets and social
networking websites buzzed with reports and images
commemorating the occasion. I am certainly not against
marking the occasion and celebrating it through the
media, as highlighting the core of the problem is
important. However, as we exchange greetings, someone
out there is working towards expanding injustice and
keeping us "behind closed doors."
Diana Moukalled is a prominent and well-respected
TV journalist in the Arab world thanks to her
phenomenal show Bil Ayn Al-Mojarada (By The Naked
Eye), a series of documentaries on controversial areas
and topics which airs on Lebanon's leading local and
satelite channel, Future Television. Diana also is a
veteran war correspondent, having covered both the
wars in Iraq and in Afghanistan, as well as the
Isreali "Grapes of Wrath" massacre in southern
Lebanon. Ms. Moukalled has gained world wide
recognition and was named one of the most influential
women in a special feature that ran in Time Magazine
in 2004.
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EsinIslam.Com
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