Power, politics & resistance: secularism and women’s marital rights in Egypt and Iran

Abstract

ABSTRACT Family law in the Middle East North Africa region has been critically scrutinized by both adherents to Islam and Western observers. There is consensus between both traditions that secularism has had no meaningful impact on women’s marital rights due to Islam’s continued influence on socio-cultural and legal practices. Building on this, this article examines the effects of the secular nature of Egypt and Iran, between 1900 and 1939, on women’s marital rights. Contributing to the current literature by examining two countries which are rarely exclusively compared in this field, significant insights into the relationship between gender equality, marriage, and secularism emerge through interpretive textual analyses of memoirs and laws. It illustrates how secular identities affect marital laws; the importance of the political environment within the state, and how secularism is a tool for pursuing or challenging power. This article challenges homogenizing assumptions that secularism had limited effects on marital laws.