Disadvantages of Being Muslim Women

LUCKNOW: M R Syeda Hameed's report on the status of Muslim women in India, entitled ``Voice of the Voiceless'', is a bold initiative, documentating in no uncertain terms the double disadvantage of being women and Muslim in India. As member of the National Commission for Women, Dr Hameed conducted public hearings from Kerala to Kashmir, Calcutta to Surat.

Everywhere, it was the same story, as women spoke of community objections to sending girls to school after puberty, the dangling threat of triple talaaq, zero maintenance, multiple marriage and absence of child support. The greatest fear for Muslim women is the triple talaaq axe. Sometimes, says the report, it is uttered in rage and irresponsibility, in a single breath, ruining the lives of the women and children forever because they have no recourse for maintenance.

The document obliquely touches the sensitive question of Mulsim Personal Law. It shows clearly how Indian Muslim women in particular are legally disadvantaged as compared to Mulsim women in other countries. In Turkey, the traditional Muslim law has been replaced by a modern civil code, and even in countries like Iran men and women have similar rights of divorce. Indonesia and Malaysia have abolished polygamy and there is an express or implied abolition of the so-called triple talaaq. In India, a man can keep four wives, divorce his wife whenever he wants without assigning reason, even in her absence. If the husband cannot pay maintenance the responsibility devolves to Waqf Boards, which are penurious. There is no child support either. All this is attributed to doctrinnaire, patriarchal interpretations of the Shariat, because it is not codified.

There are however pockets of light. Chennai for instance has a stron...

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... animals (by boiling green leaves). During all her evening activities, she gets her children to sit near by and study. Their education is a priority.

It is over ten in the night. The lady who has been working through out the day goes to bed only recoup enough energy to toil the next day.

The men in Garhwal too go to bed after a `tiring' All the work they do during day is to sit, play cards and carrom and discuss politics - domestic as also international. The evenings are spent in drinking and more often than not, followed by wife bashing. The only actual work they ever do is ply the plough in their small farms, labouring for hardly a few days in the entire year.

The women in Garhwal do not have a minute to spare. Women, working through the day and ight, shouldering all responsibilities, tired yet smiling and working, keep wishing tomorrow would be another day.