When a marriage ends, the emotional pain is often accompanied by financial uncertainty, especially for women. Although Islam emphasises justice and protection of the vulnerable, Pakistan’s family laws do not provide adequate protections for women regarding property acquired during marriage.
Pakistan currently lacks a formal legal framework that guarantees a wife’s share in marital property upon divorce. As a result, many women walk away from years of marriage with nothing but their personal belongings, despite having spent years managing the home, raising children and indirectly supporting their husband’s work and business.
Recently, the Lahore High Court has brought this issue to the forefront. While hearing a constitutional petition, the court directed the federal government to begin consultations on a proposed amendment to the Muslim Family Laws Ordinance, 1961. The amendment was tabled initially as a private member’s bill by Senator Barrister Syed Ali Zafar. This bill seeks to introduce concepts such as “husband’s asset”, “matrimonial asset”, and “wife’s asset” into Pakistan’s family law framework. The case has garnered national attention for its potential to reshape the treatment of marital property under Pakistani law.
This debate is not new, nor is it unique to Pakistan. In countries like Turkey, Malaysia and Morocco, laws already exist that protect women’s financial rights in marriage and upon divorce. In Turkey, the Civil Code stipulates that property acquired during marriage is presumed to be jointly owned, unless otherwise agreed upon. In Malaysia, courts divide assets acquired during marriage based on both financial and non-financial contributions, including homemaking and child-rearing.
In Morocco, the Family Code recognises joint management of property and permits spouses to agree beforehand on how property should be divided. These reforms in Muslim-majority countries show that Islamic principles and modern family law can work together to secure women’s rights.
Around the world, countries adopt one of two broad legal approaches when it comes to dividing property between spouses upon divorce: pure separate property regime or matrimonial property regime. Under a pure separate property system, each spouse retains ownership of the property they brought into the marriage or acquired individually during it.
Marriage, in this model, does not create an economic partnership. Ownership is determined strictly through evidence of title or possession (unless assets are legally co-owned), one spouse has no legal claim over the other’s property. This system is standard in many Islamic countries as well as other developing nations.
By contrast, the matrimonial property regime (adopted widely in Western countries and increasingly in some Muslim-majority states) recognises marriage as an economic partnership. These systems take two forms. The first is community property, where all assets and debts acquired during marriage are jointly owned and divided equally upon divorce. The second is equitable distribution, a more flexible approach where courts consider various factors before dividing assets.
These factors include the length of marriage, each spouse’s financial and non-financial contributions (such as homemaking and childcare), future financial needs, and even the reasons behind the divorce.
Pakistan, for now, follows the pure separate property model. Under the Married Women’s Property Act, 1874, Pakistani women have full rights to property acquired before or after marriage and courts have upheld that spouses generally have no claim over each other’s assets. However, this system does not always reflect the realities of married life, where one spouse’s efforts (often the wife’s unpaid domestic labour) enable the other to earn and accumulate wealth.
While Pakistani law does not yet formally recognise shared matrimonial property, courts have at times applied equitable principles to achieve fair outcomes, signalling room for legislative reform in line with global trends.
The absence of clear marital property laws in Pakistan is especially damaging given the country’s gender equality rankings. Men own or control almost all household property, while women face significant economic barriers. After divorce, women are often left without shelter or financial security. Even women who have contributed indirectly, by managing the household, sacrificing their careers or raising children, are left with no legal claim to family assets. This perpetuates cycles of dependence, forcing women to remarry out of financial necessity rather than choice.
Introducing formal marital property laws in Pakistan would be a major step toward protecting women’s financial independence. By amending the Muslim Family Laws Ordinance, 1961, the government can establish a system similar to those in Malaysia or Turkey, where marital property is defined and divided based on each spouse’s contributions. Such laws would not only protect women but also bring clarity to family courts, which currently handle these matters on a case-by-case basis, resulting in inconsistent outcomes.
There is also an international law obligation to consider. Pakistan has ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), which requires member states to ensure equality in property rights between spouses. CEDAW’s General Recommendation No 21 calls explicitly for equality in marital property during marriage and upon its dissolution. Countries like Iran, Tunisia and Morocco have already taken steps to comply with such international standards while respecting Islamic principles. Pakistan can and should do the same.
Pakistan stands at a crossroads. It can either maintain outdated legal frameworks that leave women vulnerable, or it can join the ranks of countries that recognise women as equal partners in both family life and financial matters. Recognising matrimonial property rights would not undermine the institution of marriage; rather, it would strengthen it by ensuring that both spouses are treated with fairness and dignity.
In a country where women’s economic participation is already limited, guaranteeing their financial security in marriage and divorce is not just a legal necessity but a moral imperative. It is time for reform.
The writer is a lawyer.
