When referring to family law, we mean the body of statutes, rules and regulations, court procedures, along with customary and uncodified laws and practices, that govern relationships within family units. 

This includes, but is not limited to, areas of family relations that fall under Article 16 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), including the rights of women and men entering into marriage, divorce, custody, guardianship of children, property rights, and equal rights to inheritance. It also includes the right of a spouse to choose their profession and occupation. 

Equality Now’s 2020 report, Words and Deeds: Holding Government Accountable in the Beijing +25 Review Process, put a special focus on the role of family law in achieving gender equality, looking at issues related to marital status, personal status, economic status, and violence.

According to the UN Working Group on discrimination against women and girls, the failure to ensure the equality of women and girls within the family undermines attempts to ensure equality in all areas of society.

Discriminatory family laws – those which address the rights of women and men entering marriage, divorce, custody, guardianship of children, the right of a spouse to choose their profession and occupation independent of the other – have severe economic impacts on women, girls and their families.

Sex discrimination in marital status laws renders women and girls subordinate in many aspects of family relations before, during, and after marriage. This includes the lack of autonomy to consent to marriage, inequalities within marriage, limited options for divorce, and lack of child custody and guardianship rights.

Meanwhile, sex discrimination in economic status laws restricts women from being economically independent – limiting their access to inheritance and property ownership, as well as employment opportunities – thereby reinforcing gender stereotypes and roles.

The inequalities experienced in the family have many harmful consequences for women and girls. It makes them more likely to experience domestic violence, be subjected to harmful practices like female genital mutilation, and restricts their right to education and full participation in society.
Conversely, researchers have found that “egalitarian reform of family law may be the most crucial precondition to empower women economically”.

Family is considered the foundational unit of society and is often associated with closely held beliefs about culture, religion, and tradition. This has made family law among the most intractable areas of legal reform. 

Opponents frame attempts to reform family law as a threat to a group or culture’s identity, using religion and tradition as a way of upholding discriminatory laws and practices. The right to culture and religion are human rights, but they cannot supersede a person’s fundamental right to equality.

More than 60% of the 440 reservations entered against CEDAW are based on religion, and the most reserved article of all UN human rights treaties is Article 16 of CEDAW. States often misuse religion and culture to justify reservations and other violations of international and constitutional rights to equality and non-discrimination, and to resist civil society’s demands for reform. 

Research by the World Bank shows that many countries at the bottom of various gender equality surveys are those whose family laws discriminate against women. This has led to gender gaps in indicators such as educational attainment, economic participation and opportunity, health and survival, and political empowerment. 

A recent comprehensive cross-country study drew the conclusion that the “egalitarian reform of family law may be the most crucial precondition for empowering women economically”. But family law reform continues to move at a glacial pace and, in some countries, it has regressed over the past two decades.

Research conducted over the past two decades has demonstrated the critical link between equality for women and girls and other global priorities, such as climate change, poverty eradication, and world peace. The findings are clear – gender equality is good for the family, for society, for the economy, and for a country’s prosperity and wellbeing. 

Discriminatory legal provisions bar women and girls from accessing their fundamental human rights and opportunities, which eventually restrict their equal participation in the family, society, and economy. 

The consequences of such discrimination are intersectional and translate to structural gender inequality. As such, all laws and policies must be examined to ensure they align and work in unison to benefit women and girls and promote gender equality, and current global priorities. 

According to a report by Equality Now, Words and Deeds: Holding Governments Accountable in the Beijing +25 Review Process: “Sex discriminatory personal status laws violate women’s civil and political rights.” It gives examples of legal discrimination in numerous countries and notes that such laws, especially relating to property and inheritance, inhibit women’s full social and economic participation and opportunities.

There is also a direct correlation between legal authority and power afforded to males in the family, and restrictions on women’s autonomy and agency, along with an increased likelihood of experiencing sexual and domestic violence.

Governments need to address the whole ecosystem of legal protections to make sure women are not structurally marginalised. It is equally important to apply an intersectional and inclusive approach to ensure that all groups have protection and are not being discriminated against on account of their disability, race, caste, religion, age, or any other status or socioeconomic factor. 

As countries focus on rebuilding in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, reforming or repealing all types of sex-discriminatory laws and putting in place positive policy measures must be prioritised.

In its 2018 report to the Human Rights Council, the UN Working Group on discrimination against women and girls highlighted that “equality in the private domain — the family — remains one of the biggest hurdles to achieving gender equality”. 

In March 2020, Dr Ahmed Shaheed, the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion and Belief, recommended in his report to the Human Rights Council that States:

1. Review their laws and practices and ensure that all uphold the principles of universality of human rights and respect the right to equality and non-discrimination and do not create, perpetrate, or reinforce gender-based violence, discrimination or inequalities.
2. Repeal discriminatory laws, including those enacted with reference to religious considerations, that … facilitate religious practices that violate human rights. 

UN Women’s Equality in Law for Women and Girls by 2030: A Multistakeholder Strategy for Accelerated Action identified the promotion of equality in family relations as one of the six areas of focus to accelerate action towards gender equality. In its 2019-2020 flagship report on the Progress of the World’s Women, which focuses on Families in a Changing World, the top recommendation was the need to establish family laws that recognise diversity and promote equality and non-discrimination. 

A window of opportunity is opening for global mobilisation towards ending discrimination against women in family law. Initiatives such as the Generation Equality Forum’s five-year action plan, the approach of the UNGA Beijing +30 event in 2025 and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development are bringing the matter to the fore. 

Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Indicator 5.1.1 has already identified family law as one of the four legal frameworks that must be reformed to accelerate progress for gender equality and to empower all women and girls. 

All UN member states have committed themselves to achieving SDGs. Ensuring that families are places of equality, and are free from discrimination, is essential to this. Governments must therefore be held accountable for law reform to promote equality in the family.