Marital Rape Is No Longer Lawful in Afghanistan
On July 8, Justice Ministry officials in Afghanistan changed an extremely controversial and misogynistic law that had provided that husbands could rape their wives without any sort of punishment.
On April 11, I wrote an EmpowHer article about this law ("Afghan Law That Sanctions Marital Rape is Under Review"). The wording of the law had originally read, "A woman must be ready to have sex with her husband every four days." It has been revised to read, "A woman is required to do any housework that the couple agreed to at the time of marriage."
I know - it could have been revised to read something else like both spouses are equal and sex should be by mutual consent, etc. Such was not the case, however. Progress comes in small strides as we know, and what is so important here is that husbands no longer have the legal right to rape their wives.
This same revision removed a condition that required women to seek their husband's permission if they wanted to leave their house. This is another bit of progress.
The revision must still be passed through Parliament. I believe it will be passed because the whole world is watching. We are all rooting for the women of Afghanistan in their struggles for human dignity.
The Associated Press reported this news on July 8 and it was distributed by Womensnews, which is where I found it.
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