Sex Equality in Family Law: Historical Legacies, Feminist Activism, and Religious Power in 70 Countries

Family law--also called personal status law--is one of the central institutions of gender. It molds social identities and distributes rights and responsibilities, forging relations of power between men and women, parents and children, brothers and sisters. These status differences are consequential...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors:	Htun, Mala, Weldon, Laurel
Language:	English
Published:	Washington, DC: World Bank 2012
Subjects:	World Development Report 2012
Online Access:	http://hdl.handle.net/10986/9204

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spelling	okr-10986-92042021-04-23T14:02:44Z Sex Equality in Family Law: Historical Legacies, Feminist Activism, and Religious Power in 70 Countries Htun, Mala Weldon, Laurel World Development Report 2012 Family law--also called personal status law--is one of the central institutions of gender. It molds social identities and distributes rights and responsibilities, forging relations of power between men and women, parents and children, brothers and sisters. These status differences are consequential not just for the private sphere but also for public opportunities. Family laws shape the capacity of a citizen to own, inherit, and manage property; to work outside the home; her freedom to marry, divorce, and remarry; and her or his relationship with children. Most modern family law emphasizes patriarchy and other forms of male dominance. It tended (and still tends) to maximize men's power over women and limit the latter's ability to make decisions and take independent action. Classical Islamic law, the Napoleonic Code, Anglo-American common law, and the customary law of many sub-Saharan African groups and indigenous peoples of the Americas all upheld the notion that men were in charge of family life: they controlled property, were the legal guardians of children, and had the right to restrict their wives' public activities. Women were obliged to obey their husbands, had limited access to divorce, and, in many traditions, fewer inheritance rights than men. 2012-06-26T15:41:27Z 2012-06-26T15:41:27Z 2012 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/9204 English CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo/ World Bank Washington, DC: World Bank Africa Europe and Central Asia Middle East and North Africa Latin America & Caribbean East Asia and Pacific South Asia
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	Digital Repositories
building	World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection	World Bank
language	English
topic	World Development Report 2012
spellingShingle	World Development Report 2012 Htun, Mala Weldon, Laurel Sex Equality in Family Law: Historical Legacies, Feminist Activism, and Religious Power in 70 Countries
geographic_facet	Africa Europe and Central Asia Middle East and North Africa Latin America & Caribbean East Asia and Pacific South Asia
description	Family law--also called personal status law--is one of the central institutions of gender. It molds social identities and distributes rights and responsibilities, forging relations of power between men and women, parents and children, brothers and sisters. These status differences are consequential not just for the private sphere but also for public opportunities. Family laws shape the capacity of a citizen to own, inherit, and manage property; to work outside the home; her freedom to marry, divorce, and remarry; and her or his relationship with children. Most modern family law emphasizes patriarchy and other forms of male dominance. It tended (and still tends) to maximize men's power over women and limit the latter's ability to make decisions and take independent action. Classical Islamic law, the Napoleonic Code, Anglo-American common law, and the customary law of many sub-Saharan African groups and indigenous peoples of the Americas all upheld the notion that men were in charge of family life: they controlled property, were the legal guardians of children, and had the right to restrict their wives' public activities. Women were obliged to obey their husbands, had limited access to divorce, and, in many traditions, fewer inheritance rights than men.
author	Htun, Mala Weldon, Laurel
author_facet	Htun, Mala Weldon, Laurel
author_sort	Htun, Mala
title	Sex Equality in Family Law: Historical Legacies, Feminist Activism, and Religious Power in 70 Countries
title_short	Sex Equality in Family Law: Historical Legacies, Feminist Activism, and Religious Power in 70 Countries
title_full	Sex Equality in Family Law: Historical Legacies, Feminist Activism, and Religious Power in 70 Countries
title_fullStr	Sex Equality in Family Law: Historical Legacies, Feminist Activism, and Religious Power in 70 Countries
title_full_unstemmed	Sex Equality in Family Law: Historical Legacies, Feminist Activism, and Religious Power in 70 Countries
title_sort	sex equality in family law: historical legacies, feminist activism, and religious power in 70 countries
publisher	Washington, DC: World Bank
publishDate	2012
url	http://hdl.handle.net/10986/9204
_version_	1764408859483439104

Sex Equality in Family Law: Historical Legacies, Feminist Activism, and Religious Power in 70 Countries

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