Summary

WLP convenes a panel discussion on Family Law during their CSW60 event, Family Law and Violence: Reports from the Field. Lina Abou-Habib moderates.

Lubna Dawany, Sisterhood Is Global Institute (Jordan), discusses the refugee crisis in Jordan, and notes that women are impacted with greater severity. She explains laws relating to different religions in society, and personal status laws. She discusses the issue of marriage age and its impact on education, and mentions issues of violence against women in the context of Family law, including honor killings. She also discusses the problem of gender preference during pregnancy. 

Palestinian women's rights activist Soraida Hussein introduces colonized laws as a source of violence in Palestine, and differentiates between Family law and personal status laws. She provides historical context of Palestine, and discusses the impact of former laws (inherited from Ottomans, the British, Egypt, and Jordan) which are no longer relevant in Jordan. She discusses the importance of women being involved from the start in transitioning societies, and describes successes in bringing women's causes to the forefront of society before disruptions of militarization ruin multiple years of progress. She describes advocacy strategies and political will as elements galvanizing social change. She discusses Family law as a core of women's rights, as something generating hope and agency. She discusses compromises of participatory learning, giving power to participants, transparency and accountability. She encourages the shaking of structures to move waters where waters are still; without this, women's rights will be stagnent.

Rabeea Hadi Shah, Aurat Foundation (Pakistan), gives a background on Family law in Pakistan. She describes incidences of child marriage, linked with customary tradition in Hindu, Muslim, Christian and Sikh groups. She describes resistance to new a bill against domestic violence, labelled 'un-Islamic," and describes Hindu and Christian girls who have been forcibly converted to Islam for early marriage. 

Julie Cisse, Groupe d'Initiatives pour le Progrès Social/WAR (Senegal), discusses the background of Family law and Personal status law in Senegal, and women as being at the heart of transforming society. She describes feminists speaking out against polygamy, and new trends towards women carrying full economic burdens within a household. She discusses the lack of rights given to women on issues of divorce, and campaigns for awareness of Family code issues in rural areas. She discusses positive and negative aspects of the role of media in change. 

Runtime: [01:23:51]

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