Discrimination between the sexes in the Syrian families

By: Michel Shammas

The family is considered the cornerstone of society. The family provides the society with the individuals that ensure the continuation and endurance of the society, and because of this the family is the most important instrument for development. The woman is playing an essential role side by side with the man in building the family and for this reason all national and international agreements and conventions call for protection of the family. The Syrian legislation likewise emphasizes the importance of the family by a number of laws established in the constitution.

Article 44 says: 1) The family is the core of the society and is protected by the state. 2) The state protects and supports the institution of marriage and is working towards elimination of all economic and social hindrances to it. The state protects motherhood, childhood and the youth and provides the proper conditions for developing their skills.

Article 1/45 says: The state provides for all citizens and their families in the case of emergency, sickness, disability, orphanage and old age.

The penal code also relates to the family. It lays down the punishment for adultery in article 469-472, in article 473-483 it lays down the punishment for rape, murder, and kidnapping of children youths, article 484-7 deals with the punishment of leaving an underage or handicapped child, and finally article 487-8 lays down the punishment of neglecting one’s financial responsibilities to the family. 

The Syrian legislation addresses women and men by the word “citizen” in all articles of the constitution and the constitution doesn’t discriminate between the citizens. Furthermore, the constitution affirms equality between the sexes and equality of opportunities in article 45.

Unfortunately the Syrian legislation doesn’t reach the same level as the constitutional texts, but are based on the patriarchal system with all this entails of traditional and unjust thoughts for women’s rights. Since patriarchy is based on the thought that the man is the leader and the woman is subordinated and inferior to him, these laws discriminate in a very obvious way between the sexes. These laws are in discord with the international conventions and agreements Syria has signed and are even in discord with article 25 in the Syrian constitution: All citizens are equal before the law with regards to rights and duties.

Many of the laws in the Personal Status Code discriminate between the sexes. To start with, the minimum age of marriage is 18 years for men and 17 for women. In reality though, the judges can give permission to marriage between children as young as respectively 15 and 13 years without having to refer to any law. This makes marriage between children a possibility.

The Personal Status Code doesn’t lay down rules for where the children should be brought up in the case of a divorce. This means that women in most cases are forced to give up their children because they can’t support them financially and because their families refuse to support them. The consequence of this is that the children are denied the care and love of their mother.

The Personal Status Code also discriminates between the sexes with regards to the age until which parents have to support their children. This age is set to 13 years for boys and 15 for girls, whereas it is necessary to raise the age to 18 for both sexes.

Furthermore the Personal Status Code discriminates with regards to divorce, as it allows the man to divorce his wife single-handed, whereas the opposite is not allowed. In general the procedures to getting divorced are much more difficult for women than for men, and this is made even worse by the financial and symbolic costs women have to bear in a divorce.

Because of the difficulties related to getting a divorce women might give in to their husbands’ wish to take a second wife. Polygamy inevitably results in breaking up and ruining the family.

A very serious matter in the Personal Status Code is that the testimony of one man equals the testimony of two women. It can hardly be considered reasonable that, for example, a testimony from an illiterate man is accepted at court whereas a testimony from a female doctor or lawyer or minister is not accepted.

In these laws the women is thereby worth half the man, which can also be seen in that the man’s share of an inheritance is twice as much as that of a woman.

The legislation also discriminates between the sexes with regards to passing on nationality to your children. A Syrian man’s children are considered Syrian no matter where they’re born, whereas a Syrian woman can only pass on her nationality to her children if they’re born in Syria and the father’s identity cannot be established.

The discrimination in the penal code has tragic consequences. Article 548 deals with what is commonly known as “honour crimes” and reduces the punishment for these crimes. The article thereby supports men killing their wives, girls, mothers and other female relatives in the name of honour. Contrary to this the law doesn’t offer any excuse for a women killing her husband after catching him red-handed in bed with another woman.

Article 548 moreover allows killing of women in the name of honour where the real reason might be something completely different, for example a fight over an inheritance, or a man killing his wife after it has been discovered that he has forced his wife to work as a prostitute.

Article 548 is interpreted solely to the benefit of the man even though the words mentioned in it “Who takes his spouse by surprise” is taken from French legislation where the intention is clearly the wife and the man.

We can only achieve protection of the rights of all members of a family by ensuring justice and equality between the sexes in both the laws and the rulings. To achieve this it is necessary to set up courts that support the family as a whole and who don’t judge on the basis of emotions to the benefit of the intruder.

Likewise it’s important to allow women to pass on their nationality to their children as they please and in general to change all discriminating laws.

As it is now, the laws don’t give full credit to women for their participation in supporting the family, whereas equality will encourage greater commitment to the family and the sharing of responsibilities. When the laws are taking advantage of women’s participation in supporting the family, it deprives women of a lot of their human rights, especially when it comes to ending the marriage, regardless of whether this is because of divorce or death.

To realize these goals it is necessary to change the laws related to the family and more specifically to change them from being based on a patriarchal family to be based on a modern family where equality is the main principle.