Some 41 Jordanian women ask for divorce according to the new marital law
Jordan, Culture, 2/22/2002

Some 41 Jordanian women had filed cases to split from their husbands at jurisprudence courts, and this falls in the context of a new development provided by the marital law which was amended three months ago.

The Jordanian daily al-Arab al-Youm issued on Wednesday said that the women who asked for their right "to separate" based their case to the provisional draft law which was ratified by the Jordanian King Abdullah II three years after he ascended to the throne in Jordan.

The "Independent Jordanian paper" quoted sources at Amman's Sharia court that this court still considers submitted cases, separately so as to find out to what extent they are subject to the text of the new legislation.

The sources indicated that most of the cases were filed by Jordanian women of high incomes and in good financial conditions, a matter which reflects an attitude towards "independence" by the working woman in a conservative society.

The marital status law gives the Sharia court the opportunity to try to maintain the relations between the wife and the husband as a first phase and when efforts fail, the court resorts to " divorce " as a last solution, as requested by the wife.

Before all these the woman who asks for the divorce should testify that "she can not live with her husband " and that she will exempt him from any spending.

Worthy, mentioning that like other Arab and Islamic states, the right of divorce was confined to the man alone in Jordan and this was before amending the marital status law which gave the woman the right to ask for "separation" despite the opposition of certain Islamic sides.

This law was issued in the mid of December, 2001 in accordance with a proposal submitted by a royal committee for human rights formed by King Abdullah in 2000 in the context of the efforts aiming at making administrative, economic and social reforms in the country.

Previous Stories:
  Jordanian women can appeal for divorce, raising marriage age   (12/15/2001)
  Jordan human rights report   (3/15/2001)
  Princess Sarvath on: Education of women in the Muslim world   (12/10/1998)

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