Women and Personal laws: A need for Uniform Civil Code

Although the Supreme Court and the Constitution of India provide for gender equality and gender justice, women still face so many injustices and inequalities throughout their lives. Different personal laws are used by various religions in India. The position of women under various personal laws is not favorable. They are subject to many forms of violence and discrimination such as dowry death, female infanticide, sexual crimes such as rape, modesty-related violence, and domestic violence. They faced oppression at home, at their workplaces, and in society. Religion has a significant place in a country like India but before religion, we all are human beings. From the ancient period, the women were considered as the men’s property. They were not considered as equal to men. They have no say of their own and must follow their husband in each aspect of their lives. There was a patriarchal society, and women had no sexual or economic freedom. As Manu stated from the very beginning of their life, women depend on someone. In childhood, she depended on her father after that she depended on her husband in youth, and later during old age she depended on her child. Thus, she is not free at all. Women were not provided any autonomy and were always considered inferior creatures.

Similar was the condition of the Muslim women. They have no legal status of their own before the advent of Islam. Even after the advent of Islam, the position of women was not that much improved. They were provided with legal status but were only considered inferior to males. As far as divorce is concerned husband can give a divorce to his wife by only saying “You’re divorced.” There is also one of the awful practices under Muslim law is nikah halala which is also known as tahleel marriage in which after being divorced by triple talaq, she must marry and sleep with someone else and get divorced again to be able to remarry her first husband. Thus, this cruelty against women was there from the very beginning. The same is the status of women in other personal laws too. Therefore, a uniform civil code is required to provide gender justice not only to women of a particular religion but to all women irrespective of their religion. This research endeavour strives to comprehensively study the inequalities under various personal laws, the legal position of uniform civil code, challenges in implementing uniform civil code, and comparison of different personal laws.