Women Living Under Muslim Laws - Global
Women Living Under Muslim Laws is an international Network that provides information, solidarity and support for all women whose lives are shaped, conditioned or governed by laws and customs said to derive from Islam. The Network aims to increase the autonomy of women by supporting the local struggles of women from within Muslim countries and communities and linking them with feminist and progressive groups at large; facilitating interaction, exchanges and contacts and providing information as well as a channel of communication.WLUML therefore extends to: women living in countries or states where Islam is the state religion, as well as those from Muslim communities ruled by religious laws; women in secular states where there is a political presence of Muslims making a demand for religious law; women in migrant Muslim communities in Europe, the Americas, and Australasia; and non-Muslim women who may have Muslim laws applied to them directly or through their children.
Communication Strategies
Creation of a network of mutual solidarity and information flow; facilitation of interaction and contact between women from Muslim countries and communities and between them and progressive and feminist groups at large; promotion of the exposure of women from one geographical area to another in and outside the Muslim world; and common projects identified by and executed through network participants.
Development Issues
Women, Rights.
Key Points
The Network's name 'Women Living Under Muslim Laws' (WLUML) is an acknowledgement of the complexity and diversity of women's realities in Muslim countries and communities. The choice of name also recognises that women affected by Muslim laws may not be Muslim, as they may have chosen another marker of political or personal identity.
WLUML was formed in response to situations that required urgent action, during the years 1984-85. These included:
WLUML was formed in response to situations that required urgent action, during the years 1984-85. These included:
- The case of three feminists in Algeria, arrested, jailed without trial, and kept incommunicado for seven months, for having discussed with other women the project of law known as the "Family Code", which was highly unfavorable to women.
- The case of an Indian sunni woman who filed a petition in the Supreme Court arguing that the Muslim minority law applied to her in her divorce denied her the rights otherwise guaranteed by the Constitution of India to all citizens, and called for support.
- The case of a woman in Abu Dhabi, charged with adultery and sentenced to be stoned to death after delivering and feeding her child for two months.
- The case of the "Mothers of Algiers" who fought for custody of their children after divorce.
Sources
WLUML website.
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