General

No food for wives who don’t want sex

The “revised” Afghan family law allows men to deny their spouses sustenance if they refuse to have sex.

When the Afghan government shelved the first version of the legislation, which applies to the Shia minority, after western governments complained that it legalized rape within marriage, President Hamid Karzai promised to change the law. But the revised version is just as bad. The final draft says that Shia men can deny their wives food if the women don’t obey their “reasonable” sexual requests. It also gives males guardianship of children and the right to refuse permission for women to work. Human Rights Watch, which obtained the draft, says it even violates the country’s own constitution.

The Guardian

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