Shah Bano: Muslim Women's Rights, Case Study

In the case pertaining to Shah Bano, we have decided to neither stand by the Supreme Court’s decision to override Muslim law and award maintenance to Bano, nor are we going to overthrow the decision and support the new Muslim Women’s Bill. We have decided to propose the development of a uniformed civil code that would apply to all citizens. In our unified civil code, there are three options. One is if you choose to get married through your church, you mist abide by Muslim law. The second is if you decide to get married through the state you are then covered by the Special Marriages Act of 1954. Last, you can choose both, and if your marriage is dissolved you can choose between the two in which you want to abide by.

When Bano was divorced from her husband, she said she was relieved and that she hated him, so obviously neither she nor her husband were happy in the relationship. Bano was fighting the courts to be awarded ongoing maintenance so she could be financially supported as a single woman. Maintenance is given to the wife for three months after a divorce, but clearly that is not enough.

We came up with this uniformed civil code in order to be fair to both the church and the state. Women’s rights in India are scarce as it is. This code is respecting both the majority and the minority. If we were to stand by the Supreme Court to override Muslim law and award Bano with the maintenance, we would be favoring a single person and this case would become precedent for future similar situations. Also, if we were to overthrow the decision and make Muslim personal law supreme in most cases we would also be favoring the majority. Many wives end up being widows and many couples end up getting divorced; therefore we saw the need to create a code that handles both issues simultaneously letting the person involved in the issue to make their own decision and be able to govern their own lives.  

If you choose option number one, then you must abide by Muslim law, or the law of you church. If you agree to this, you are aware that most personal codes belittle women and do not give them the same rights as the men, especially in marriage. A husband can divorce his wife without the wife’s consent, leaving her without ongoing maintenance. After the divorce, the woman must depend on her immediate family and the community to support her. Even though these codes are unfair to women, it is still dwelled upon by the media and politicians.

In our second option, you can choose to get married through the state, and therefore are covered by the Special Marriages Act of 1954. The Special Marriages Act of 1954 offers couples and non-religious alternative to personal laws. This act provides a special form of marriage not abiding by the religion or faith followed by either party.

Since it is so difficult to define a code for each community due to the religious diversity within Hinduism and Islam, we have created option number three. In this option you may be married under both church and state, and if the marriage is dissolved, the husband and wife can separately decide which law to abide by. This option gives the couple the right to autonomy. The husband or wife can make their decisions based on which law, the church or state that they want to follow. Choosing to be married under both church and state is highly frowned upon and contradicts the traditional Muslim culture, so consequences may come if option three is chosen.

In case a wife has been divorced or widowed before our unified civil code was created, she has the right under the Grandfather Clause to still have her rights. The Grandfather Clause states that if you are married before the civil code, and you are divorced or widowed, you can still get the benefits of whichever option you choose without having a license. This clause protects divorced or widowed wives who have been formerly abiding by the Muslim law or the state law.

In some areas, women are forced into marriages against their own will; therefore we have also created the Cohersive Marriage Clause. This clause states that if a woman is forced into marriage by state regulations and can prove it in court, you then can qualify for exemptions provided by the state. This benefits both the husband and wife because if the husband dies, he knows that his widowed wife will be taken care of.

Women and the Workforce

In the video you asked us to watch, "Danger- Women at Work," they treat women as fragile dolls. When men did these jobs, I am positive they did not have a video like this worried about their nutrition, or a little scratch turning into a serious infection. This part of the video correlates directly with the movie I have chose to talk about, G.I. Jane.

When O'Neil, the first woman accepted into the CRT Special Forces training, decides to go to boot camp with all of the men she is at first babied. She is treated as a fragile doll who cannot handle the pressure physically, mentally, and emotionally as well as the men can at her camp. Her higher-ups, her peers at camp, and even her friends doubted her. No one thought that her place in this camp was valuable, her place and her goal was actually frowned upon.

"If they(women) behave in ways that are seen as more "male"- such as acting assertively, focusing on the task, or displaying ambition- they are seen as "too tough" and "unfeminine.""(Kirk and Rey pg. 306) In the movie, O'Neil could not keep her femininity and be successful as a soldier at the same time. In one of the most important scenes, she shaves her head to prove that she was committed to finishing the camp. After doing so, she slowly moved her way into being treated as "one of the guys." This shows how society views women in the military. To be accepted, O'Neil had to look, talk, dress, and act like a guy. O'Neil had to throw her feminine side out the window just to be accepted. She was not respected both as a woman and a soldier.

In WLMP under the Ideal Nuclear Family section, this is stated,"The father is the provider while the wife/mother spends her days running the home."(Kirk and Rey pg. 303) In G.I. Jane, Demi Moore's character strives to prove this statement is wrong. Proving that a woman can excel at a men's boot camp in more ways than one is solely the reason she goes. O'Neil does not believe that women are put on this earth to only serves as house-moms and raising children. In this movie, she proves that women are strong and capable of completing the same tasks that men do in the most challenging setting.

In our society today, this idea that women can be just as successful as men in the work place has increase, but inequality still exists. For example, I have worked at Buffalo Wild Wings for four years and our store has been used as a training facility for managers for three of those years. So I have seen at least a hundred of managers in training facilitate throughout the company, and of all of them I can name five who were women. Of those five, only two that I know of are still with the company. So personally, I see inequality in the workplace first hand. They like to have women as servers and bartenders, but when it comes to moving up in the company, seeing a woman is very rare.

So yes, this representation of women's work matches my experience, but not my expectation. The field I am going into is mostly males, but I am determined to be just as successful as any other man in the entertainment sports industry. 


Works Cited:
Kirk, Gwyn, and Margo Okazawa- Rey. Women's Lives Multicultural Perspective. 5th ed. New York: McGraw Hill, 2010. Print.

SL Activism Log 11/7

1. I was in contact with Arielle this week because she wanted me to transport a bird to a foster, but I was unable to help because I had work.

2. Since we talked about a feminist's definition of health care, I can still tie in a connection with my project. Something that I think should be included in health care is security for women who are abused if she is in working for an "nonproductive" job. In the health care system, if a woman is supported by the husband's health care and he beats her, the woman should still be covered if she left him to find shelter. I know that by law a woman can still be supported by her spouse's insurance for a couple of years after a divorce, but in this case I think that there should be some kind of system that helps the woman get back on her feet until she is stable enough to support herself if she does not do so already.

3. Before this class I never really looked deep into how women are treated differently in the work place, and in life in general. By doing this project, and seeing a situation first hand, my eyes have been opened to see how real these issues are. It has made me think about the things I take for granted, as well as how such a little gesture can make a huge impact and really help someone in need.