Persian Guide to Equality in the Family in the Maghreb Published

In November, WLP published the Persian edition of the Guide to Equality in the Family in the Maghreb for use by Iranian women’s rights activists in the "One Million Signatures" campaign for equal legal rights and family law reform. The campaign, launched in August 2006, aims to collect one million signatures and spread grassroots awareness of discriminatory laws such as those related to marriage, divorce, and child custody.

The arguments for family law reform presented in the Guide will help provide support to the legal reform efforts of the One Million Signatures campaign. The Guide is a unique advocacy tool developed by Collectif 95 Maghreb-Egalité, a coalition of women’s organizations from Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia, that presents the current state of the family law in the Maghreb, and proposes religious, human rights, sociological, and legal arguments for reform, well-supported by relevant data.

~The book is available for order ($24.95) or free download.~

Family law in Muslim-majority societies governs every aspect of a woman's life – from minimum age and conditions of marriage, to divorce, child custody, and the right to work, travel, or decide on a place of residence. The reform of family law is therefore crucial to women's ability to participate on equal terms in both family life and public life.

At present, laws in Iran discriminate against women. Men have the sole right to divorce and except in special cases, the right to custody of children. One man’s testimony equals that of two women. A man’s worth is twice that of a woman in cases of murder or bodily injury. A daughter receives half a son’s inheritance. And certain positions, such as that of a judge, are closed to women.

Women’s Learning Partnership has been helping to raise the campaign’s visibility through the release of a series of human rights alerts concerning the campaign’s ongoing activities and publications as well as the arrests of campaign activists. On March 4, 2007, 33 women’s rights activists were arrested during a peaceful protest against increasing government pressure on civil society activists and, in particular, the trial of four women activists charged with "endangering national security, agitating against the government, and taking part in illegal gatherings."

Since then, over 40 campaign members have been arrested for activities related to their work with the campaign. WLP continues to support Iranian women’s rights activists who are being pressured to stop all activities related to the campaign.