Family Law and Gendered Citizenship in the Middle East

Rania Maktabi - Ostfold University College, Halden Norway

 

Abstract

This paper focuses on the Arab state’s legal distinction between a ‘private’ and a ‘public’ status for its citizens. I argue that this differentiation presents serious challenges for the establishment of rights-based citizenship as well as to governance according to rule of law criteria. The inconsistencies within the state’s legal system are most strikingly portrayed in the inherent incompatibility between the state’s Constitution which grants citizens equal rights and duties, and the state’s gendered laws as reflected in family law, nationality law and criminal law, where male and female citizens have dissimilar rights and duties.

 

Source : www.papers.ssrn.com

 

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