The shari'a family law survey

Methodology The survey was undertaken on 23 and 24March 2000. A stratified random sample of 1,200 people over the age of eighteen was interviewed face- to-face throughout the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Table II.6 Sample distribution of shαri'α family law survey (% of total)

The average age of the respondents was thirty-five and the survey has a margin of error of 3 per cent with a confidence level of 95.

Use of the courts According to the survey findings, only a small minority of the respondents used the courts within the year before the survey (18 per cent), and in the majority of cases this was for purposes of marriage (49 per cent), followed by inheritance.

Of those who used the courts, only 20 per cent expressed unequivocal dis­satisfaction with them, although there was a clear gender gap (see Table II.7).

Table II.7 Degree of satisfaction with courts based on use of the courts over the last year (%)

* 1 he EastJerusalem sample is so small as to be unrepresentative, and is cited here only for purposes of interest

The fact that such a small percentage of the surveyed population had used the courts in the last year, and that in most cases it was for the purpose of marriage, may explain the low level of dissatisfaction with the courts -- i.e. in the majority of cases of court use, they are not making rulings on conflicting or sensitive issues. Additionally, given that the majority of court use was for registra­tion of deeds and contracts rather than litigation, it could be argued that this low level of dissatisfaction is not based on a real test of the courts, in the sense of a test of the court’s performance in dealing with a claim being made by the respondent.

All respondents were asked for their impressions of the courts regardless of whether they had actually used them or not. Three general questions were asked regarding whether respondents felt that the courts supported women’s, men’s and children’s rights. While the majority of respondents claimed that they felt the courts did support women’s rights, there is a clear gender gap on this issue, with io per cent more males (79 per cent) claiming that the courts support women, than women (70 per cent), themselves believe. Men equally believe that the courts support their rights (79 per cent), while women tend to see the courts more supportive of men’s rights (83 per cent) than they see them supportive of women’s rights (70 per cent). However, the question of rights is vague - in this context, the majority of respondents are probably conceiving of men’s and women’s rights within the context of the law. Despite this, women’s awareness of bias shows up in their significantly higher assertion that the courts support men compared to women.

Marital age and -freedom to choose a spouse Various surveys in the past have attempted to assess attitudes towards freedom to choose a marriage partner. In the past, however, it was generally assumed that this was an issue that was relevant only to young women. Although the CPRS survey in 1995 found a high level of support for women’s right to choose their spouse (above 90 per cent for both sexes) the ambiguity of the question probably accounts for the outcome. The right to choose may simply mean for many people the right of women to refuse someone imposed on them by their parents. This interpretation is sup­ported by the fact that in the FAFO study less than 10 per cent of men and women thought that choice of spouse should be the daughter’s choice alone, while the majority asserted that a decision should be made collectively with the young woman’s parents. On the other hand, the lack of freedom to choose a marriage partner is clearly not a problem only for women.

The 2000 survey tried to invoke indirectly the contradiction between the minimum legal marriage age and the decision-making power in the marriage process. In specific, did respondents feel that a person might be mature enough to get married but simultaneously not mature enough to decide on whom they married?

Table II.8 Are women under seventeen years of age and men under eighteen years of age mature enough to choose their spouse? (%)

West Bank Gaza Jerusalem Total

Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female

Women under 17

Clearly, the findings in Table II.8 show the dominant trend in which choice of a marriage partner continues to be seen as an issue in which parents should be involved. When asked whether women under seventeen years of age and men under eighteen years were mature enough to choose their spouse, the survey found the following responses: 11 per cent of men and only 7 per cent of women felt that women under seventeen could be considered mature enough to choose their own spouse, and 15 per cent of men and 12 per cent of women felt that men under eighteen years could be considered mature enough to choose their own spouse. As such, the overwhelming stance is that neither men nor women are considered at these ages capable of making their own decisions regarding a marriage partner.

Congruent with this was the overwhelming support expressed by respondents for a minimum age of capacity for marriage of eighteen for both sexes (86 per cent of males support this compared to 90 per cent of females), as shown by the responses in Table II.g.

table II.9 Should the age of marriage be raised for both males and females to eighteen? (%)

Divorce Earlier surveys have consistently found an overwhelmingly negative stance towards women’s right to divorce. On closer scrutiny, however, it is not clear whether the findings are about women’s rights to do so or represent a larger taboo towards divorce as such. The 2000 survey attempted to clarify the difference by asking under what specific circumstances women should have the right to request a divorce. Posed in this way, only 4 per cent of men and women came out against women’s right to divorce under any circumstances (see Table II. 10).

Table 11.10 Acceptable reasons for divorce

Signficantly in the Palestinian context, a ‘nationalist’ justification, a husband being a ‘political collaborator’ came out as the number one acceptable reason, supported by 69 per cent of respondents. Second was the husband’s mental illness (66 per cent) and thirdly spousal physical abuse (55 per cent). Although only a minimal number of respondents (20 per cent) cited polygyny as a legitimate reason, it is significant that there is even this amount of support for divorce on grounds not recognized as such by prevailing personal staus law. Overall there was a consistent 5 per cent gender gap between men and women on all of the possible responses, with the latter slightly more responsive to women’s need to divorce under the varying circumstances posed in the questions. However, in the case of polygyny there was the most dramatic gap between men and women’s responses with 24 per cent of women and only 16 per cent of men citing this as a justifiable reason for women to divorce.