Over the past year and a half, much debate has taken place regarding Egypt’s Family Law. Whereas some, mostly Islamists, have argued that certain articles must be changed or removed, many, women and men, have taken the streets demanding that rights be added, not stripped away.For instance, Law 1 of 2000, otherwise known as the Khulaa Law, acts as an alternative route for women whose husbands refuse to grant them divorce. MP Mohamed El-Omda of the Wafd Party, who is also the head of People’s Assembly Constitutional Affairs Committee, suggested with a coalition of other MPs that the law must be canceled. He and Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) MPS also suggested that the National Council for Women be disbanded and that a National Council for the Family be activated instead.

Through the Khulaa Law, courts grant women a divorce as long as they return the dowry paid by her husband prior to the marriage. Opponents argue that the process of the law is against Islamic Sharia law and that it also increases divorce among married couples.

However, Nehad Abul-Komsan, chairwoman of the Egyptian Centre for Women’s Rights, said in a TV interview that divorce rates resulting from resort to Khulaa Law represents only three per cent of all divorce cases . . .

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