From: farzin@apollo3.ntt.jp (Farzin Mokhtarian)
Subject: New divorce law
Organization: The Ohio State University Department of Computer and Information Science
Date: Thu, 7 Jan 1993 19:05:21 GMT

                                          
A while ago, someone briefly reported this in soc.culture.iranian.
Here is the complete article:
                        
                   
From: Japan Times, December 10, 1992  
--------------------------------------------------------------------
                                      
Iranian women granted new rights
                                    
TEHRAN (Reuter-Kyodo) Iran's clerical leaders have adopted a new
divorce law granting unprecedented rights to women.
   
It allows a woman to seek compensation through the courts for
housework her husband ordered her to do during the marriage.
       
The law, hailed as a "big upheaval in women's rights" by Salam
newspaper which printed it on Monday, opens the way for female
assistant judges to sit in courts hearing divorce cases.
                   
It also requires that divorce be sanctioned only by civic courts,
aiming to put an end to the common practice of men easily
divorcing their wives against their wishes.
                   
The law responds to some criticisms about restrictions on women's
rights in Iran's male-dominated society. Apart from strong
objections by Western-oriented women, complaints have also been
voiced by some supporters of the Islamic revolution.
                      
"Men are often able to divorce their wives very easily because
they are friends with the head of a divorce bureau. Now it won't
be so easy," Shahla Sherkat, editor of Zanan (Women) magazine,
said Tuesday.
                  
The law says officials who register a divorce without a civic
court ruling will be dismissed.
           
Sherkat said "cooking, cleaning and even nursing babies" were
among tasks not required by Islam from women for which they
could claim compensation.  
   
"The only duty religion requires of a married woman is
submitting to sexual relations with the husband," she said.
But the law did not make clear how the woman could prove she
did the chores on the man's orders if he claimed that she did
them voluntarily, Sherkat said, adding: 
"How can she prove it if a spirit of male-domination prevails
in the courts?"
                  
The law for the first time allows women to sit on the bench in
Iran's Islamic courts. Clerical leaders had previously ruled
out women as judges, declaring Islamic society regarded them
as too emotional for the job.
       
Sherkat said the traditional Islamic view, which makes divorce
very easy for the man and very difficult for the woman, had
been the rule in Iran.
                          
"This (new) law is solid because it has governmental, judicial
and religious backing. Some people may not like it but it is
law nonetheless," she said.
                               
The law was passed by a top body, the Expediency Discernment
Council, last month. The council, headed by President Akbar
Hashemi Rafsanjani consists of about 20 members - all male
and mostly Muslim clerics.
            
---------------------------------------------------------------
    
  - Farzin Mokhtarian
    farzin@apollo3.ntt.jp
                                 
                    
Newsgroups: soc.culture.iranian