Women, Marriage and the Law in Post-Revolutionary Iran

Abstract

Before the revolution of 1979, Iran was one of the few Muslim countries whose family laws, originally based on the shari’a (Islamic law), were radically reformed. The Family Protection Law of 1967 (FPL) substantially modified some of the inequalities inherent in Islamic family law. It abolished men’s unilateral right to divorce and put women on an equal footing with men in matters of divorce and child custody.