Seminar: Raising awareness about women’s rights

Speakers say it is important that women read and understand the marriage contract before signing it

LAHORE: Speakers at an awareness session on Friday stressed the need for raising awareness among women about their constitutionally guaranteed rights.

Barrister Fatima Shaheen said it was important that women understood the purpose of various columns in the marriage deed (nikah nama).

She said the minimum age at which a girl could contract marriage was 16 years in the Punjab. For boys, the minimum age at which they could contract marriage was 18 years. She said violators could now be imprisoned for six months and fined up to Rs50,000.

Discussing Column 18 of the document, she said most women were unaware that they could have a right to divorce.

She said Column 17 of the document allowed women to state their conditions for the marriage contract, preventing their husbands from interfering in matters like further education or plans for work.

She said under Column 21 the man was required to reveal his marital status at the time of the marriage.

Zahida Sadiq of the Punjab Commission on the Status of Women (PCSW) said that under the Punjab Muslim Family Laws (Amendment) Act of 2015 whoever solemnised a marriage in and failed to report it to the nikah registrar concerned could be sentenced to three months imprisonment and fined up to Rs100,000.

She said the punishment for contracting a second marriage without written permission from the first wife was a prison term for up to one year and a fine up to Rs500,000.

Sadiq said that under the Punjab Marriage Restraint (Amendment) Act of 2015 a six-month prison term and Rs50,000 fine had been prescribed for anyone caught marrying a child or solemnising and arranging such a marriage. She said the law authorised the family court to conduct a trial in matters involving child marriages.

Other speakers said a comprehensive women empowerment package titled Punjab Women Empowerment Package had been announced by the provincial government in 2012. They said package had been further strengthened by the Women Empowerment Initiative of 2014.

They said the quota for women in public service careers had been increased to 15 per cent. They said boards of all statutory organisations, public sector companies and committees were required to have at least 33 percent women representation.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 4^th, 2016.