Staff Reporter :
Eminent legal experts have suggested forming of arbitrary council headed by ward councillors with a view to dissolving family disputes, as it is not possible for the mayors to conduct arbitrary affairs due to their excessive work pressure against the backdrop of increasing population.
So, the responsibility of operating arbitrary council should be placed on councillors through issuing circular, so that they could give decision on family disputes, including divorce, maintenance and polygamy.
“Pakistani military dictator Ayub Khan was compelled to formulate the Muslim Family Law Ordinance 1962 following tremendous movement of women. After that, the Divorce Law was formulated making tough for men to divorce. At the same time, the law was upgraded keeping a provision for women to give divorce…..So far as we know, the women usually do not want to break up the marriage if the repression on them goes at highest extent,” former adviser to the caretaker government Advocate Sultana Kamal said.
She was addressing as the chief guest at a national dialogue titled: ‘arbitrary council and present urban reality’ organized by Action for Social Development at CIRDAP auditorium in the city on Wednesday. Presided over by Jamil H. Chowdhury, eminent legal expert Dr Shahdeen Mailk was present there as special guest.
Laying emphasis on arbitrary solution, Sultana Kamal further said: “It is not possible to resist marriage break-up through arbitrary council, once repression on women starts. And so, the men and women both should be more responsible about the family. At the same time, the number of divorce will be decreased, if the women could reduce dependency on the men.”
On the other hand, Dr Shahdeen Mailk said: “About 70% of the capital’s ultra-poor women are left by their husbands. And this is happening mainly for easiness of talaq and divorce. Especially, the vital reason for the divorce is its relating law. This law is now almost like buying a pen. Anyone can give talaq whenever he wants.”
“On the other hand, the women tolerate such situation fearing uncertain future of their children
and for their maintenance cost. So, it needs to amend the existing law. The law must be tough like buying any land property,” he said.
At present, the personal laws in Bangladesh governing marriage, separation, and divorce overtly discriminate against women. Setting out separate rules for Muslims, Hindus, Buddhist and Christians, many of these laws were codified decades ago, and grant men greater powers than women in marriage and accessing divorce. Some economic entitlements for women recognized by these laws mainly maintenance and mahr [contractual amounts under Muslim marriage contracts] are often meager and difficult to secure.
As a result, rather than offer protection, the personal laws often trap women in abusive marriages or propel many of them into poverty when marriages fall apart. In many cases these laws directly contribute to homelessness, hunger, and ill health for divorced or separated women and their dependents.
A recent study report based on interviews with 255 people, including 120 women who have experienced the shortcomings of personal laws, found that these laws discriminate against women during marriage, separation, and divorce, and exacerbate women’s economic inequality.
It also found that family courts, where women can claim their minimal rights related to marriage, are often so plagued by delays, dysfunction and burdensome procedures that women wait months or years for any result. The report also found that there are significant barriers to and shortcomings in social assistance programs, which are failing to reach many women in extreme economic hardship after separation or divorce.
Over 55 percent of girls and women over 10 years old are married in Bangladesh. For many, marriage offers economic security but it might also result in financial hardship due to social pressure to leave jobs by the women after getting married.
Meanwhile, the United Nations country team had identified “marital instability” as a key cause of poverty and “ultra and extreme” poverty among female-headed households in Bangladesh. Besides, the Planning Commission of Bangladesh has said that women are more susceptible to becoming poor after losing a male earning family member due to abandonment or divorce.
Married women make contributions in many forms to family homes, businesses, fields and other assets, providing vastly more unpaid household and care giving labor than men.
According to the Human Rights Watch, all married women bore almost sole responsibility for household work, including cooking, cleaning, washing, grazing livestock, and fetching water. Many contribute significantly to their households at the time of, or during, marriage by selling jewelry, or relinquishing earnings or savings to their husbands. These contributions help to buy property in the husband’s name, further his education, establish businesses, or help him get occupational or business licenses or permits. Almost all women give their husband or in-laws a dowry.
Yet despite these myriad contributions, most of the women are unable to exercise control over their income and marital property.
Eminent legal experts have suggested forming of arbitrary council headed by ward councillors with a view to dissolving family disputes, as it is not possible for the mayors to conduct arbitrary affairs due to their excessive work pressure against the backdrop of increasing population.
So, the responsibility of operating arbitrary council should be placed on councillors through issuing circular, so that they could give decision on family disputes, including divorce, maintenance and polygamy.
“Pakistani military dictator Ayub Khan was compelled to formulate the Muslim Family Law Ordinance 1962 following tremendous movement of women. After that, the Divorce Law was formulated making tough for men to divorce. At the same time, the law was upgraded keeping a provision for women to give divorce…..So far as we know, the women usually do not want to break up the marriage if the repression on them goes at highest extent,” former adviser to the caretaker government Advocate Sultana Kamal said.
She was addressing as the chief guest at a national dialogue titled: ‘arbitrary council and present urban reality’ organized by Action for Social Development at CIRDAP auditorium in the city on Wednesday. Presided over by Jamil H. Chowdhury, eminent legal expert Dr Shahdeen Mailk was present there as special guest.
Laying emphasis on arbitrary solution, Sultana Kamal further said: “It is not possible to resist marriage break-up through arbitrary council, once repression on women starts. And so, the men and women both should be more responsible about the family. At the same time, the number of divorce will be decreased, if the women could reduce dependency on the men.”
On the other hand, Dr Shahdeen Mailk said: “About 70% of the capital’s ultra-poor women are left by their husbands. And this is happening mainly for easiness of talaq and divorce. Especially, the vital reason for the divorce is its relating law. This law is now almost like buying a pen. Anyone can give talaq whenever he wants.”
“On the other hand, the women tolerate such situation fearing uncertain future of their children
and for their maintenance cost. So, it needs to amend the existing law. The law must be tough like buying any land property,” he said.
At present, the personal laws in Bangladesh governing marriage, separation, and divorce overtly discriminate against women. Setting out separate rules for Muslims, Hindus, Buddhist and Christians, many of these laws were codified decades ago, and grant men greater powers than women in marriage and accessing divorce. Some economic entitlements for women recognized by these laws mainly maintenance and mahr [contractual amounts under Muslim marriage contracts] are often meager and difficult to secure.
As a result, rather than offer protection, the personal laws often trap women in abusive marriages or propel many of them into poverty when marriages fall apart. In many cases these laws directly contribute to homelessness, hunger, and ill health for divorced or separated women and their dependents.
A recent study report based on interviews with 255 people, including 120 women who have experienced the shortcomings of personal laws, found that these laws discriminate against women during marriage, separation, and divorce, and exacerbate women’s economic inequality.
It also found that family courts, where women can claim their minimal rights related to marriage, are often so plagued by delays, dysfunction and burdensome procedures that women wait months or years for any result. The report also found that there are significant barriers to and shortcomings in social assistance programs, which are failing to reach many women in extreme economic hardship after separation or divorce.
Over 55 percent of girls and women over 10 years old are married in Bangladesh. For many, marriage offers economic security but it might also result in financial hardship due to social pressure to leave jobs by the women after getting married.
Meanwhile, the United Nations country team had identified “marital instability” as a key cause of poverty and “ultra and extreme” poverty among female-headed households in Bangladesh. Besides, the Planning Commission of Bangladesh has said that women are more susceptible to becoming poor after losing a male earning family member due to abandonment or divorce.
Married women make contributions in many forms to family homes, businesses, fields and other assets, providing vastly more unpaid household and care giving labor than men.
According to the Human Rights Watch, all married women bore almost sole responsibility for household work, including cooking, cleaning, washing, grazing livestock, and fetching water. Many contribute significantly to their households at the time of, or during, marriage by selling jewelry, or relinquishing earnings or savings to their husbands. These contributions help to buy property in the husband’s name, further his education, establish businesses, or help him get occupational or business licenses or permits. Almost all women give their husband or in-laws a dowry.
Yet despite these myriad contributions, most of the women are unable to exercise control over their income and marital property.
