My Major and the Middle East

Q: An observation or commentary that links ideas and questions from our course with issues relevant to your professional major and/or learning that you are carrying out in professional major courses.

I am a Legal Studies major here at Champlain College and although there are few parallels with American Law and the Middle East, some do exist. A perfect example is Family Law in Iran, where the structure is very similar to the family law in the United States and even in Vermont. I am taking a family law class here at Champlain College this semester, so this pertains to my major studies a lot. When family law protecting women in particular was eradicated following the 1979 Iranian Revolution many things changed, including: the minimum marrying age for women dropping from eighteen to nine, divorce rights for women were completely taken away and left up to men, and women were forced to give up their positions as judges and lawyers. In addition to taking away women’s rights regarding their families they also deregulated the system to the point of anarchy. Simple things like paperwork to file for a marriage or divorce and gaining welfare were difficult for people to obtain because the government did not have a solid system of family law to carry out these simple and essential functions.

Eventually the family law system in Iran reverted many things back to pre-revolution regulations and standards. Adopting the policies they fought against. What makes this very ironic is that a lot of the family laws they reinstated are very similar to the common law of European countries, which is the basis of our law here in the United States. This proves that despite what many Iranian officials may think Allah will not provide all and the government still needs to provide its citizens with essential avenues of receiving benefits, divorces and marriages in an orderly fashion. Therefore the family law system of Iran has many similarities to our own here in the United States, the same one I am studying in my major class.