The influence of religion on women's rights within legislation : a comparative study on Christianity in Malta and Judaism in Israel

Abstract

A methodical review of the written Maltese and Israeli laws, regarding the procedures of marriage, divorce and abortion, as a touchstone for the existence of promotion or violation of human rights, presents the religious law each country holds (Cannon Law and Jewish Law, respectively) as the un doubtful fundamental source of the civil law. In each country the influence of religious law on the civil one varies, by its traits within the written civil law, and by the effects of on human and especially women rights. While the Cannon Law is practically replicated in the Maltese civil law, verbally in the marriage act and the civil code, and doctrinally in the criminal code, the Jewish law is the text of marriage and divorce regulations in Israel. The Maltese legal system has introduced the civil form of marriage, but is still reluctant regarding the issues of divorce and abortion, by which it violates the woman's freedom to control her own body, the right for privacy and the right to choose the observance, or not, of religious life. The Israeli legal system gives the almost total jurisdiction on personal matters to the religious establishment, allowing some very upsetting gender based segregation, and discriminating women regarding marriage and divorce rights. The abortion procedure, however prioritize the women's rights over her body than the fetus' right to live (under certain criteria), and gives the husband no rights on that matter.