|
Women
May 11th, 2004 - 06:39:09
How
To Help Bam's Victims 
Bam
Picture Slide Show
Majlis approved a bill on Monday which would grant women the same inheritance rights as men, lawmakers said. Under Iran's inheritance laws, a woman with children inherits just one eighth of her husband's money, belongings and buildings when he dies. She is not entitled to a share of land owned by her husband.
If the couple are childless the amount inherited by the wife rises to one quarter. The rest of the husband's estate goes to his children, grandparents, parents or siblings. If none of those relatives is alive the remainder goes to the state.
Men by contrast inherit half of all their wife's money and assets if the couple are childless and a quarter if they have children. The new bill approved on Monday would put widows and widowers on an equal footing, lawmakers said.
"Under the new law a woman inherits from all of her husband's wealth, not part of it," Fatemeh Rakei told Reuters.
Rakei said the law would also mean the wife would get the remainder of the estate if her husband had no other surviving relatives instead of it going to the state. "This is a big step forward in granting women equal rights to men," reformist lawyer Mohammad Ali Dadkhah said.
Although women university graduates outnumber men, a woman's testimony in court is given half the weight of a man's and her divorce and custody rights are far weaker than her husband's
© Iranian.ws
Top of Page
.:
Do you have An Article To
Contribute?
.:
Do you have ideas
to Improve
Our Coverage?
.: Has something you've read here startled you? Are you
angry, excited, puzzled or pleased? Express
Yourself
| 
