The Center for Women’s Legal Researches, Counselling and Protection (CWLRCP) organized a workshop presenting the findings of a research project entitled “Young Women’s Divorce: Causes and Effects,” funded by the German Heinrich Böll Foundation. The workshop was attended by judges from the Supreme Judicial Council and Sharia Courts, as well as directors of international, women’s, community, and human rights organizations, mediators, community leaders, political representatives, lawyers (male and female).

Ms. Zeinab Al-Ghunaimi, Director of The Center for Women’s Legal Researches, Counselling and Protection (CWLRCP), welcomed the attendees, highlighting the importance of discussing the findings of the research “Young Women’s Divorce Before Consummation: Causes and Effects.” She stated that in the Gaza Strip in 2011, divorce cases represented approximately 17% of marriages, according to Sharia court statistics. Of those divorce cases, young, pre-consummation divorcees accounted for approximately 34.9%. Al-Ghunaimi added that the study sheds light on a growing social phenomenon in the Gaza Strip: divorce among young women before consummation. She emphasized that the center aims to provide new information to decision-makers to promote gender equality in the law, ensuring women’s rights and implementing evidence-based activities to strengthen data for a national campaign aimed at developing and improving advocacy for women’s protection against legal violence.

The lead researcher, Donia Al-Amal Ismail, Director of the Creative Woman Association, indicated that the study reached a set of findings and recommendations to address the phenomenon. She explained that divorce before consummation in the Gaza Strip is a prominent phenomenon compared to the total number of divorce cases. She noted that, while divorce is a bitter experience for divorcees, it often represents a turning point in the lives of the girls and women who experience it. She pointed to positive changes in Palestinian society’s general perception of divorced women, which can be seen in family support, some litigation procedures, institutional support, and other reflections of this positive change.

In conclusion to the study, Ismail recommended that decision-makers in the legislative and executive authorities work to amend the legal texts in force in Sharia courts to consider marriage contracts prior to consummation as a form of engagement. This would necessitate facilitating the procedures for terminating such contracts in cases of disagreement between the parties, ensuring the protection of the woman’s rights. Ismail also called on the executive authorities, particularly the Ministry of Interior, to refrain from recording a woman’s marital status on her identity card until after her wedding and her move to the marital home, not merely upon the signing of the contract. She urged the Sharia judiciary to simplify litigation procedures, especially in cases of separation before consummation, ensuring justice and equality between the parties. Ismail recommended that the Ministry of Social Affairs prepare rehabilitation programs for pre-consummation divorcees, in coordination with relevant agencies and institutions, to ensure their safe integration into society. She also stressed the need for divorcee benefits to reach the women directly, without allowing families to receive these allocations, regardless of the reasons. She urged Palestinian families not to rush their daughters into marriage contracts and to allow them ample opportunity to get to know their fiancé without the constraints of a legal marriage, permitting them to end the engagement if they find themselves unwilling to complete the marriage. She noted the importance of guiding girls to use special conditions in the marriage contract to protect them from arbitrary divorce or its effects.

Ms. Hanan Matar, a lawyer at the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, commented on the findings of the research “Young Women’s Divorce Before Consummation: Causes and Effects.” The workshop included interventions from all attendees (judges of the Supreme Judicial Council and Sharia Court judges, directors of women’s, civil, and human rights organizations, community leaders, and mediators) who unanimously agreed on the importance of discussing this problem.