Opponents fear proposed bill could allow girls as young as nine to marry, erode women’s rights and give greater powers to clerics
A draft law in Iraq that would allow the marriage of girls as young as nine has provoked protests across the country, with women’s rights activists saying it would “legalise child rape”.
The Shia religious groups that dominate the political system in Iraq have been pushing to erode women’s rights in the country for more than a decade.
Unlike neighbouring Saudi Arabia, Iraq does not have a system of male guardianship requiring women to have the permission of a husband, father or male guardian to make crucial life choices such as marriage.
However, a new proposal, which passed its first reading in the Iraqi parliament this week, would give religious authorities the power to decide on family affairs, including marriage, divorce and the care of children.
On the bright side, a lot of developed nations have been putting laws on the books to protect children from these creeps. The US recently had a series of 13 states banning marriage under the age of 18 under any circumstance (there were previously exceptions), Japan last year raised its age of consent from 13 to 16, and the UK two years ago removed exceptions to the marriageable age of 18 in England and Wales.
And I think it’s reasonable to say that once these laws go on the books in these sorts of countries, they’re basically there to stay, because while you’re always swimming upstream to create change, the current is going to be a lot stronger for reducing the age below 18 than for raising it up.
Only 13 states?
Only 13, yes. Every single state has at least 18 as a minimum if you don’t have an exception, but as you can see from the top map, in most states you can get exceptions for anywhere from 15 to 17. A few states have no floor at all, meaning that even though case law would dictate some sort of minimum, there’s nothing on the books that sets a well-defined minimum with exceptions.