Bangladesh: Discriminatory family laws fuel female poverty

Bangladesh’s discriminatory personal laws on marriage, separation, and divorce trap many women and girls in abusive marriages or drive them into poverty when marriages fall apart, Human Rights Watch said in a new report released today. In many cases these laws contribute to homelessness, hunger, and ill-health for divorced or separated women and their children. The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the World Food Programme (WFP) have recorded significantly higher levels of food insecurity and poverty among female-headed Bangladeshi households. “Bangladesh is world famous for programs meant to reduce women’s poverty, yet for decades it has ignored how discriminatory personal laws drive many women into poverty,” said Aruna Kashyap, Asia researcher for women’s rights and author of the report. “With many women precariously housed or struggling to feed themselves when their marriages break down, Bangladesh should immediately reform its personal laws, fix its family courts, and provide state assistance to poor women.” Human Rights Watch said that Bangladesh’s government should urgently reform the country’s personal laws, making economic rights for women a key focus. The Law Commission of Bangladesh has recently taken important steps to review personal laws on marriage, separation, and divorce, and recommended changes in 2012. Women’s rights advocates and academics contributed to this review process, and have long pressed for such reforms. The Bangladesh government should take this process forward and end legal discrimination against women within marriage, ensure women’s equal right to marital property, streamline family court procedures, and improve access to social assistance programs. The 109-page report, “‘Will I Get My Dues…Before I Die?’ Harm to Women from Bangladesh’s Discriminatory Laws on Marriage, Separation, and Divorce,” documents how the country’s discriminatory and archaic personal laws impoverish many women at separation or divorce, and trap some women in violent marriages because they fear destitution. Current laws deprive women of an equal right to marital property. The limited entitlements these laws offer women are poorly enforced by family courts and local government arbitration councils. Female-headed households and women facing domestic violence struggle to access critical state support and social assistance. Together, these problems mean there is scant economic protection or security for women when marriages break down. In Bangladesh, more than 55 percent of girls and women over 10 years old are married. The UN country team in Bangladesh has identified “marital instability” as a key cause of poverty among female-headed households and the Bangladesh Planning Commission has said that women are more susceptible to becoming poor after losing a male earning family member due to abandonment or divorce. As Bangladesh strives to meet its poverty reduction targets under the Millennium Development Goals, it is undermining its own efforts by leaving discriminatory and poverty-triggering laws on the books. The report is based on interviews with 255 people, including 120 women who experienced the discriminatory effects of Bangladesh’s personal laws, as well as with judges, family court lawyers, women’s rights experts, and government officials.