The progressive direction of change in favor of
women’s rights within the family came to a halt
with the 1979 Revolution that ended the Pahlavì
dynasty (1925–79) and brought into power a new
Islamic leadership. The Supreme Judicial Council
issued proclamations directing courts that all un-
Islamic legislation was to be suspended. The
Special Family Courts established by the Family
Protection Act were dissolved. The Special Civil
Courts were established in 1979 to adjudicate over
matters relating to family law. Once again, the
absolute right to divorce for men was instituted,
men could register their divorce unilaterally, and
marital obedience and maintenance were governed
by classical conditions, with obedience squarely
resting on the wife’s shoulders. Furthermore, spe-
cific measures taken to bring polygyny under con-
trol and give women more power over questions of
child custody, allowing the Special Family Courts
to mediate and check the husband’s absolute right
to the children, were all abolished. The minimum
age of marriage was initially set with puberty at
9 years old. In 2002, this minimum age was raised
to 13. The marriage of a virgin girl (even after
puberty) became dependent on the permission of
the father or paternal grandfather, with the proviso
that a Special Civil Court may grant permission if
the guardian refuses without valid reason. Tempo-
rary marriage continued to be permitted.
Despite the complete reversal of the previous
gains immediately after the revolution, the status of
women within the confines of family law has not
remained static. Responding to pressures by women
and attempting to resolve major problems that have
surfaced with the reinstitution of patently non-
egalitarian laws in an increasingly urban and edu-
cated society, the Islamic Republic of Iran has been
pushed gradually to modify some of the laws that
were put into effect immediately after the revolu-
tion. However, so far these modifications have
occurred within frameworks that continue to insist
on the essential inequality of men and women in the
sphere of family law.
For instance, a 12-article law on marriage and
divorce passed in 1986, while allowing the wife the
right to obtain a divorce if the husband marries
without her permission or does not treat co-wives
equitably in the court’s assessment, essentially
maintains the husband’s absolute right to divorce.
A wife may take the matter to court if her husband
refuses to pay maintenance and the court will fix a
sum and issue a maintenance order. The law also
stipulates that arrears of maintenance to the wife468 law: modern family law, 1800–present
have precedence over all other liabilities against the
husband. Furthermore, the wife’s refusal to have
conjugal relations where the husband has con-
tracted venereal disease is no longer deemed as con-
stituting disobedience.
Additional 1992 amendments provide that regis-
tration of divorce without a court certificate is ille-
gal. Several other grounds are provided for judicial
divorce, including the proven insanity of either
spouse, the husband’s inability to consummate
marriage, the husband’s failure to comply with
a maintenance order, and where continuation of
marriage constitutes proven difficulty or hardship
for the wife. Another 1992 amendment law extends
the wife’s grounds for divorce to the husband’s drug
addiction constituting a danger to his family, the
husband’s desertion of the marital home for six
months without legitimate cause, and the husband’s
conviction for a crime bringing dishonor to the
family. Yet another reform, also introduced in
1992, extends the divorced wife’s financial rights
from maintenance during ≠iddaand her deferred
agreed upon sum in case of divorce to the right to
sue for payment for household services rendered to
her husband during the marriage, although the
measure has proved difficult to apply in practice,
partly because of the difficulty in assessing wages
for housework.
In the area of child custody, the mother’s custody
now ends at seven years and custody reverts to the
father if the mother remarries. The mother may be
granted custody in certain cases if the father is
proven unfit to care for the child. The increased
number of grounds for which women can sue for
divorce, seek financial remuneration, and ask for
limited custody of their children has in effect led to
the return of the family courts, even if the laws
remain unequal.
In general, the framework within which changes
in family law in favor of women have been ap-
proved remains unequal and heavily slanted toward
men. In 1997, a prenuptial document to be signed
at the time of marriage was approved to bring
about more equality. The object was to give women
the rights they lacked within the context of Islamic
laws. Through this document the future husband
can forfeit his rights to polygyny and unconditional
divorce. Women can initiate divorce, divide assets,
and have joint custody of children and child sup-
port. However, all the articles have conditions at-
tached to them. As pointed out by the critics, this is
only a voluntary contract, men do not have to sign
it and if they do not there are no legal consequences.