State Power, Religion, and Women's Rights: A Comparative Analysis of Family Law

Family law determines the power a woman has towards marriage, divorce, property, children, and employment. While liberalization of family law has occurred throughout the world in the last half of the 20th century, some countries continue to enforce discriminatory family law systems. This article surveys various legal systems and identifies those most and least likely to result in family law equality. Civil law, common law, socialist and post-socialist countries tend to have the most liberal family laws, while countries with religiously-inspired family law, particularly those based on Sharia law, tend to remain the most discriminatory. However, Morocco and Turkey provide examples of Muslim countries that have reformed their family law systems in favour of gender equality. The article provides a good summary of the various power dynamics that must be considered when governments seek to reform this contentious legal area.