Women and Family Law Reform in India: Uniform Civil Code and Gender Equality
- ISBN-10
- 9352808304
- ISBN-13
- 9789352808304
- Category
- Law
- Pages
- 349
- Language
- English
- Published
- 1992-06-30
- Publisher
- Sage Publications Pvt. Limited
- Author
- Archana Parashar
Description
The Constitution of India guarantees equality as a fundamental right. This, however, remains only at the level of theory as the various religious personal laws in force in the country and followed by different communities deny equality to women in personal matters. This inequitous contradiction is the subject of this pioneering study. Dr. Parashar argues that the concept of religious personal law was created by colonial administrators and has been maintained by independent India since, in a religiously plural society, it helps the State’s end of governance. The author traces the legislative conduct of the State and demonstrates that it has adopted discrepant policies with respect to the different religious personal laws. While Hindu personal law has been extensively reformed, the other personal laws have been left largely untouched. As a result, Hindu women have gained new rights, though not complete equality, while women of the minority communities continue to suffer inequalities. The author critically examines the arguments used by the State to reform, or refrain from reforming, religious personal laws. This analysis establishes conclusively that the State has acted in an inconsistent manner, and that its decisions are not governed by considerations of equality and gender justice but primarily by political factors. The author concludes that the only way to sever the connection between religious and civil rights is to adopt a secular and uniform civil code which should be non-optional. Dr. Parashar also highlights the inadequacies of the various feminist analyses of the nature of law and suggests that any discussion of the nature of the State must incorporate the significance of religion as a political factor. This major study will interest lawyers, legal activists, feminists and all those fighting to end gender discrimination.
Get the book
Similar books
-
Women and Family Law Reform in India: Uniform Civil Code and Gender Equality
By Archana ParasharWomen and Family Law Reform in India: Uniform Civil Code and Gender Equality
-
Redefining Family Law in India
By Archana Parashar, Amita DhandaOne such tokenism is to make the two-child norm a condition of eligibility for access to certain elective offices or ... The Haryana Panchayat Raj Act 1994, provided that a person having more than two children shall not be qualified to ...
-
Family Law: Volume 1: Family Laws and Constitutional Claims
By Flavia AgnesCalcutta: Eastern Law House (1994). Bhattacharjee, A.M., Matrimonial Laws and the Constitution, Calcutta: Eastern Law House (1996). Buch, Nirmala, The Law of Two Child Norm in Panchayats, New Delhi: Concept Publishing (2006).
-
Modern Indian Family Law
By Werner MenskiReaders will remember that I constructed my response to Mr. Khan's essay as an exercise in comparative legal training, not an in-depth treatment of one particular ... 6 of the Muslim Family Laws Ordinance, 1961. ... a few case notes.
-
The Trouble with Marriage: Feminists Confront Law and Violence in India
By Srimati BasuThe Trouble with Marriage is part of a new global feminist jurisprudence around marriage and violence that looks to law as strategy rather than solution.
-
Personal Law Reforms and Gender Empowerment: A Debate on Uniform Civil Code
By Nandini Chavan, Qutub Jehan KidwaiThe basic objective of this book is to explore the possibilities of reform in Muslim Personal Law and Hindu Personal Law from women rights perspective.
-
Women in Muslim Family Law: Second Edition
By John L. EspositoJohn Obert Voll Islam and Politics . Fourth Edition . John L. Esposito The Islamic Impact . Yvonne Yazbeck Haddad , Byron Haines , & Ellison Findly , eds . The Middle East from the Iran - Contra Affair to the Intifada .
-
Reclaiming the Nation: Muslim Women and the law in India
By Vrinda NarainReclaiming the Nation examines the relationship between gender and nation in post-colonial India through the lens of marginalized Muslim women.
-
A Woman's Issue: The Politics of Family Law Reform in England
By Dorothy E. McBrideA Woman's Issue: The Politics of Family Law Reform in England
-
Feminist Advocacy, Family Law and Violence against Women: International Perspectives
By Ann Elizabeth Mayer, Mahnaz Akhami, Yakın ErtürkOverall, the book provides a complex global picture of current trends and strategies in the fight for a more egalitarian society. These findings come at a critical moment for change. Across the globe, family law issues are contentious.