The unheard voice of a muslim wives : When we fail to outlaw the inquality!!!

Muslim marriages are not governed by South African courts. In today’s day and age, we have yet to grant Muslim wives equality and justice. It cannot go on this way.

In the Muslim community divorce is entirely skewed in the favour of men.

Women cannot decide to get divorced without the consent of their husbands, they can also be deprived of settlements and of getting financial support after divorce.

This is a bizarre compromising of the Bill of Rights.

To undo this reality, the Muslim Marriages Bill was introduced four years ago but after receiving flak from the more conservative Muslim community, it has since been swept under the rug.

Meanwhile, women in the Muslim community are being deprived of access to justice.

They do not have a voice, they are ‘spoken for.’

Aside from the little access to legal recourse, there is also the ugly side to polygamy that traditional Muslim marriages allow. According to practice, current wives are meant to be consulted prior to engagement to new wife.

This often fails to happen as husbands go off and secretly marry someone else. In other cases, the first wife is alienated in favour of the new wife or wives. This is not meant to happen as husbands ought to treat wives fairly. However, because this is not prescribed by law, it is easy to side-step.

Imagine the feeling of finding out that there is another wife in the picture. Imagine knowing that despite this, it is up to your husband whether you can get divorced and whether your children will receive support.

You, the wife, are trapped.

It cannot be that some have more rights than others. It cannot be that in our time, we allow women in the Muslim community to bear the brunt of unfair traditional practice. In ignoring the equality of Muslim women, we are saying that they are not of equal value.

This is an abuse of freedom and equality.

The Women’s Legal Centre (WLC) will face the Presidency, the departments of Home Affairs, Justice and Correctional Services, and Parliament, in the Western Cape High Court on 1 December 2015. This action taken by the WLC is sending the message that ours is meant to be a society that is founded on justice and equality before the law.

They are asking why our institutions are failing to open access to justice.

This week marks the start of the 16 days of Activism against women and children abuse. What right do we have to support this campaign, if we are not willing to support access to justice that Muslim women are due?

Members of a society must be allowed to express their views and pursue the lifestyle that they desire. If the traditional marriage is what a woman wants, then she should be able to do so.

Equally, if she wants to end that marriage, she must be able to do so. We cannot surrender anyone in our society to coercion.