Knowing Our Rights: Women, Family, Laws and Customs in the Muslim World - 3rd Edition

WLUML (Published: December 2006)

This third and completely revised version of the handbook is an essential resource for those taking a critical and questioning approach to rights, laws, and constructions of womanhood in Muslim countries and communities and beyond.

Just like the societies that they shape and reflect, laws are constantly changing in both their texts and implementation. WLUML cannot undertake a fresh Women & Law in the Muslim World action research Programme (W&L) every few years but we recognize that to be truly useful for women’s rights activists, we need to make sure major changes are accommodated. This edition covers major changes in the period 2003-2006.

We are currently examining the possibility of making this Handbook available electronically, which would also allow us to update it without the cost of printing new editions. Meanwhile, the Handbook is now being translated into several languages, including Arabic, Bahasa Indonesia, Farsi, French and Russian indicating that it has proved a useful resource for those who are promoting positive reforms in family laws as well as those who are resisting regressive change.

In this updated edition, we have focused on significant changes in texts of laws in some countries where the original W&L took place. We have included changes in Egypt because although there was no W&L project in that country, we included Egypt and its laws in the original edition as they have long been regarded by other systems as a benchmark in family law. We have incorporated new provisions in both the narrative overviews and law tables as well as updating the section on constitutional and legal frameworks. But we have not changed information regarding customary practices (which requires an intensive process of field research) and implementation of laws, nor have we changed currency exchange rates.

Additionally, there have been many developments in Muslim contexts not covered by the original W&L (as well as migrant contexts such as Canada), which we are including below as part of our discussion on important recent trends in family law reform.