Palestinian women and Muslim family law in the mandate period

Author / Creator

Brownson, Elizabeth author

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Online

Physical

Summary

In this volume, Bronson sheds new light on Palestinian Muslim women agency in shari'a courts from the British Mandate period to the present. Her extensive archival research on wife-initiated mainte...

In this volume, Bronson sheds new light on Palestinian Muslim women agency in shari'a courts from the British Mandate period to the present. Her extensive archival research on wife-initiated maintenance claims, divorce, and child custody cases deepens our understanding of women's position in the courts. Using court registers and interviews, Brownson uncovers a variety of ways women have manipulated the system to their benefit despite it patriarchal bias. She also finds that few reforms were implemented during the Mandate period. The British were uninterested in improving colonized women's legal status and sought to avoid further antagonizing Palestinians. At the same time, Palestinians wished to uphold the one indigenous institution they still controlled while both British rule and Zionism threatened their nationalist aspirations. Although Palestinian women have had few alternative to using this male-privileged system to redress grievances with their husbands and in-laws, they continue to resist its injustices every day. Brownson finds that women's understanding of family law fundamentals has enabled some to navigate the system deftly. A unified, reformed law reflecting society's current needs is required, however, so women can have full access to their rights.

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