A uniform family code to make way for gender equality

The government has to formulate a uniform family code and get rid of discriminatory laws to provide women with equal social, legal status and opportunities, a civil society platform said yesterday.

A signatory to the UN's Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), Bangladesh is “legally bound to put its provisions into practice”, said the group, which watches the progress in implementation of the convention.

At a programme organised yesterday to discuss the status of CEDAW's concluding observations in 2016, speakers said the government must set a deadline to withdraw its reservations on two CEDAW articles. The articles provide for equal rights to entitlements over marriage and divorce and establishment of equality between man and woman.

At present, marriage registration, rights to earned resources and properties, guardianship and adoption are defined under separate family laws followed by separate religious communities. For example, Muslim women are entitled to inheritance, though not equally as their male counterparts are, while Hindu women do not have any right to inheritance.

Against the backdrop of this situation, the Citizens Initiatives on CEDAW Bangladesh, a platform of 56 women and human rights organisations, demanded a uniform family code. 

The CEDAW implementation process demands every signatory country to submit a report on the status of implementation every four years. The CEDAW committee upon reviewing Bangladesh's eighth periodic report in November 2016 requested the government to submit a mid-status report this year on the measures taken to implement some recommendations.

The recommendations include review and repeal of all discriminatory laws, formulation of a uniform family code, adoption of an anti-discriminatory law, and deployment of sufficient human, technical and financial resources to ensure the implementation of legislation intended for protecting the rights of women and girls.

The Law Commission in 2013 suggested that the withdrawal of the reservations, which are coming in the way for equality for women, should be considered positively. But no initiative has been taken since in 2016.

In order to stop unfair treatment of women because of their sex and religion, they must get equal opportunities which will bear equal results, said Ayesha Khanam, president of Bangladesh Mahila Parishad. To ensure equal outcome, women lagging behind should be given means to get on par with their male counterparts, she said.