Weird laws have always existed all around the globe. But here are some laws that are not only weird but also so sexist they’ll leave you aghast! Somewhere… even your hair isn’t your own!
1. The 1990 religious Fatwa prohibits ‘women’s driving of automobiles’ as ‘a source of undeniable vices’.
2. A 2013 Indian Act confirmed the legality of marital rape, saying “Sexual intercourse or sexual acts by a man with his own wife, the wife not being under fifteen years of age, is not rape.” India has worlds highest number of early marriages, post 15 years of age.
3. This is a common culture named ‘bride kidnapping’ in Central Asia, the Caucuses, Ethiopia, Chechnya and Kyrgyzstan.
4. The provision of the Penal Code applicable in the Northern part of Nigeria specifically encourages violence against women. Underneath its provisions, the beating of a wife for the purpose of correction is legal by use of (Section 55 (1) (d) of the Penal Code).
5. In 18 countries, married women cannot get a job without their husband’s permission: Bahrain, Bolivia,
6. In Israel, marriages and divorces come under the rabbinical law, according to which, divorces can only take place if requested by the husband.
7. In 2008, a Saudi Arabia court refused divorce to an 8-year-old from her 58-year-old husband.
8. According to the law, a woman’s hair belongs to her husband!
9. Leather pumps are outlawed in Cleveland, as the shiny finish of the shoes could allow a man to capture the reflection of a woman’s lady parts!
10. An old-school law in Little Rock, Arkansas grants a man the right to legally beat his wife, but only once a month and only with a stick that measures no more than three inches wide.
11. Tunisian inheritance laws, which are based on Islamic jurisprudence, entitle female heirs to only half of the share of the property of their male peers. Tunisia got a new Constitution, which is supposed to promote gender equality. But even the new articles failed to challenge this inheritance law.
12. Chinese women can’t work in mines. Madagascar women can’t work at night. Russia has a list of 456 jobs women can’t do.
13. In Iran, the father is the natural guardian who can marry off his daughter; even if the girl is an adult, she cannot marry someone of her choice. Wives and daughters cannot leave the country without the official permission of their husbands or natural guardian. They also cannot obtain a passport without the consent of their husbands.
Well, what can we really say to this?