Nepal: Supreme Court Strikes Down Sexist Divorce Law

^{Category: International Human Rights}

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On Thursday, the Supreme Court of Nepal (web site currently down) struck down a 33-year-old divorce statute that allowed men (and only men) to divorce women (and only women) on grounds of infertility. This comes on the heels of several other recent progressive rulings on the part of Nepal's highest court:

The latest court verdict has come in a series of what rights activists have praised as progressive judgments by the Supreme Court. Last December the court asked the government to scrap a "discriminatory" rule that women must ask permission of family members before selling inherited property. The court also eased the regulations for women to obtain passports and ruled that women should not suffer discrimination during the menstruation cycle. The court also asked the government not to recruit underage boys into the security forces.

Nepal has a reputation for enforcing sexist property laws--but given the Court's recent rulings and the increasing number of women serving in Nepal's parliament, it is only a matter of time before that reputation is no longer deserved.

(Hat tip to Feministing.)