Bahrain – 2014 results

In 2009, Bahrain adopted a personal status code for the first time, although this only applies to Sunni Muslims.^[7] Prior to this, matters relating to the family, marriage and inheritance were governed by the Sharia courts, and by Sharia and customary law, which differed according to which religious sect a woman belongs to.^[8] This is still the case for women who are not Sunni Muslims, including the Shiite majority, with the result that cases are decided on the basis of judges’ personal interpretations of Islamic texts instead of codified law, often meaning that women’s rights are ignored or violated in the courts.^[9]The original draft law applied to Sunni and Shiite Muslims, but the sections relating to Shiites were withdrawn following threats of protest from hard line Shiite clerics.^[10] Personal status matters for non-Muslims are governed by the civil courts.^[11]

No minimum age of marriage had been defined in Bahrain until October 2007 when the Minister of Justice fixed the legal ages at 18 for males and 15 for females.[^{12], [13]} However, a Sharia court can give permission for a marriage to take place before a girl reaches the age of 15, in cases of ‘urgent need’ (not specified).^[14]

Only marriages concluded under Sharia law are legally recognised in Bahrain.^[15] No minimum marriage age is specified in Sharia law; however, it appears that to be legally recognised, marriages must be performed after the bride has reached the age of 15, under the order of the Minister of Justice mentioned above. ^[16]

The official Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) report (2011) notes that while a campaign has been launched to try and bring in a unified family law to cover Shiites as well as Sunnis, this does not include plans to raise the minimum marriage age to 18 for women.^[17]

Up-to-date figures for early marriage are not available, but data held by the UN from 2001 indicates that at that point, 4.2% of girls aged 15-19 were married, divorced or widowed.^[18]

It is unclear whether women and men have equal parental authority over children during marriage. According to the 2007 official CEDAW report, parents enjoy joint custody of children during marriage.^[19]However, in a report published by Freedom House in 2010, Ahmed refers to fathers retaining legal custody of children following divorce (even if the mother is granted physical custody), implying that fathers have the ultimate decision-making authority over children in marriage.^[20] In addition, the husband is legally recognised as the guardian of his wife.^[21]

In the event of divorce, under the new personal status code, custody of children is assigned to Sunni women until boys reach the age of 15 and daughters reach the age of 17 (or marry, whichever comes first).^[22] For Shiites, mothers retain custody until boys reach the age of seven, and girls reach the age of nine.^[23] In both cases, women in any event would only have physical custody over their children, as the father retains legal custody (meaning, for instance, that he can stop his ex-wife taking the children out of the country).^[24]A woman also loses custody of her children if she remarries.^[25]

Under Sharia and customary law, the husband is considered to be the head of the household.^[26] As outlined above, parental authority is governed by Sharia law (including under the new personal status code, which is shaped by Sharia law), under which women do not have equal rights.

According to a Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women  (CEDAW) shadow report submitted by the Bahrain Women’s Union and other NGOs, in some cases, men only agree to a woman’s request for a divorce in return for her giving up her right to custody over their children.^[27]

Women do not enjoy equal inheritance rights as wives and daughters. Inheritance is governed by Sharia law, which provides guidelines for calculating inheritance shares.^[28] A woman may inherit from her father, her mother, her husband, her children and, under certain conditions, from other members of her family.^[29] However, her share is often smaller than a man’s entitlement and is dependent on which other family members survive the deceased.^[30] In general, a widow inherits one-eighth of the estate of her husband when she has children, while a widower with children inherits one-fourth of his wife’s estate.^[31]

Al Gharaibeh outlines an important distinction between Bahrain’s two primary Muslim sects. In the absence of a direct male heir, Bahraini Shia interpretations allow daughters to inherit the full estate of a deceased father. By contrast, Sunni traditions oblige daughters to share such an inheritance with the brothers or other male relatives of the deceased. At the same time, a Shiite wife cannot inherit land, only moveable property.^[32]

It appears that in practice, women’s inheritance rights may be violated by the male executors of the will, who do not follow the law and refuse to give women the inheritance to which they are legally entitled.^[33] A shadow report submitted by the Bahrain Human Rights Watch Society in 2008 notes that some Shiite men marry non-Muslim women in Muta’a (or temporary) marriage ceremonies; in such cases, the wife has no right to claim inheritance in the event of the husband’s death.^[34]

Apart from a very narrow range of circumstances (e.g. domestic violence, or illness on the part of the husband), only men are able to initiate divorce, unless a clause allowing the wife to do so has been included in the marriage contract.^[35] The only other way a woman can obtain a divorce is if she requests a ‘khula’ divorce.^[36] Under ‘khula’, a woman is able to request a divorce unilaterally, but forfeits her dowry and any future financial support from her ex-husband.^[37]

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