31. WOMEN
AND LAW
The Daughters of
Zelophehad
Num. 27:1-11.
Elizabeth Joy
Aims:
1. To show that the laws concerning women have
been discriminatory and imposed on them.
2. To reveal that women have played a vital role in
exposing the inadequacy in the existing norms and
laws even in relation to a divine decree.
3. To encourage women in our context to demand gender
justice and work for a change in the existing norms
and laws that discriminate against them within both
the church and society.
Bible Study:
When the land was to be divided among the people of
Israel, according to God's command, it was to be divided according to
the size of the tribes of Israel. So a census was taken.
The five daughters of Zelophehad - Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah and
Tirzah were not listed among those who were to receive the land.
They were in danger of becoming homeless, landless and shelterless,
because their father died without having a son and none of the
daughters were married. They demanded that they receive their
father's share of the land allotted to their clan. God granted
them their demand.
Women were denied inheritance of property because they themselves were
considered part of a man's property
Women were considered as men's property which is
obvious from the last two of the ten commandments. Women were
used as mere objects of sexual pleasure and instruments of
procreation. Women's bodies were the site of control where their
sexuality was never controlled by themselves but by their fathers and
husbands. The following laws from the Old Testament reveal their
discriminatory character and show how they were imposed on women.
Read each of the following texts.
a. Suspicion of marital infidelity (Num. 5:11-31):
Here in this law, the man is never held accountable
or punished for his suspicion even if his wife is vindicated. The
man could suspect his wife of her infidelity but the reverse was never
possible. The wife had to bear the insult and only if proved
guiltless could bear children. She had no choice but to remain
with the husband.
b. Slandered bride (Deut. 22:13-21):
Here the husband who suspects his wife to have had
pre-marital sex brings her to a public place and accuses her of
cheating him. In this case, the parents of the bride can save her
life if they produce a blood stained sheet proving her virginity before
the consummation of their marriage. Even if she is proved
innocent, the punishment for the husband who tries to put her away
without paying her bride price is just to pay double that amount and
never divorce her. The reward for her innocence is to remain with
this man who has humiliated her, all her life! A male is never
expected to preserve his virginity prior to or after marriage.
c. Rape of a betrothed woman and adultery
(Deut. 22:22-27):
In both the cases of a betrothed woman who is raped
inside a town and of a man who has committed adultery with a married
woman, both the man and the woman are to be stoned to death. This
is so because the man has trespassed on another man's property - the
betrothed one or the wife, where these women are presumed to have given
their consent.
d. Rape of a non-betrothed virgin (Deut. 22: 28-29):
Here the act is considered not as a crime but just
an offense. The man has to marry her and cannot divorce
her. The punishment for the man is to pay the bride price and
marry her, while for the woman, no retribution is made. She has
no choice but to live with the man who raped her!
Thus only a woman is expected to preserve her
virginity until marriage and be faithful to her husband after
that. The father and the husband have the power to control
women's sexuality - father in deciding who her husband will be and the
husband by these acts of terror which bring about deep
humiliation. Women are indeed strictly men's property!
Now let us turn to our text -- Numbers 27:1-11:
a. Women get together and demand their father's
share:
In spite of the prevalent discrimination at that
time, the daughters of Zelophehad went and stood before Moses, Eleazar
the priest, the leaders and the whole community at the entrance of the
Tent of the Lord's Presence and spoke boldly (v.2).
We as women need to get united like these women, and
be determined and bold to face the power structures of society and the
Church. Very often, we fail to stand before the hierarchical
power structures for various reasons. We need to demand our
rights.
b. Women point to the inadequacy in the divine
decree:
The daughters of Zelophehad point out boldly that
there is something lacking in what the Lord said to Moses (Numbers
26:52-56). They do not find a place in the inheritance of the
land. Moses presents their case to the Lord.
c. God justifies their demand and revises the divine
decree:
The daughters of Zelophehad are not condemned for
their demand over against the norms of the day and the decree of the
deity. Rather God approves of their action, and amends the
earlier decree. (vv. 8-11). God gives a new legal requirement to
be followed by all the generations in Israel.
The Present Context and Challenge:
The context in which we live is exploitative and
discriminatory. On the one hand we have the Church with its laws
and norms discriminating against women and subordinating them.
Even the existing token representation of women in the decision
making bodies and in the ordained ministry is not common to all church
denominations. On the other hand, women face the brunt of gender
discrimination through the existing personal laws that deal with
marriage, divorce, inheritance, maintenance, adoption etc. As
Christians we are governed by the above laws under the following three
major legislations - The Indian Christian Marriage Act (1872); The
Indian Divorce Act (1869) and The Indian Succession Act (1925), which
are age old, outdated and gender discriminatory. We still do not
have an adoption law. However we have an adoption bill 1988/90,
which allows us to adopt without court permission.
The yoke of discrimination and subordination prods
us to challenge the exploitative systems and demand justice, especially
gender justice. At this juncture, it is important to ask what is
the Biblical, theological and political basis for our demand for
gender justice, both in the society and the Church? A strong
Biblical and theological basis for our demand for gender justice comes
from Gen. 1: 26-31, where we see that God created human beings in God's
image. God created them male and female and blessed them, gave
them dominion over the earth, plants, trees, animals, birds, fish of
the sea and everything. This `dominion' points to responsible
care and protection and not destruction, and calls for harmony with
nature and its resources and all life. What is important is that
the male and the female, created in God's image, receive an equal
blessing and call to continue to be co-creators with God in preserving
and protecting God's creation and using it with a sense of
responsibility. So one sex cannot dominate and deprive the other
sex of what God has ordained for all. God did not show any
discrimination on the basis of sex.
The political basis for our demand for gender
justice comes from our own Indian Constitution. The Constitution
affirms equality before the law and equal protection of the law through
Article 14. Our Constitution specifically denies discrimination
based on religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth through Article
15. Therefore, we can boldly demand justice to women in all
realms - through equality.
But the Personal Laws by which we are governed
deprive us of equality, as we have seen, in spite of provisions of the
Constitution and justice claims based on Biblical and theological
truths. Therefore these laws need to be changed. Here, it
is noteworthy to point out that the Joint Women's Program (JWP) of the
Christian Institute for the Study of Religion and Society (CISRS)
and the William Carey Study and Research Center (WCSRC) has taken the
initiative to study and propose changes in the Christian Personal
Laws. This was done with the concurrence of the Law
Commission and networking with the Church women's organizations, YWCA
and different Church denominations, National Council of Churches in
India (NCCI) and the Catholic Bishop's Conference of India
(CBCI). The Christian community in India long awaits the changes
in the Christian Personal Laws. Now it is our duty to arise and
demand that the Christian Marriage Bill of 1994, the Indian Succession
Amendment Bill of 1994 and the Christian Adoption and Maintenance Bill
of 1994 be passed in the Lok Sabha at the earliest. These bills
have been gathering dust in the Prime Minister's office since February
1995. We need to be awake and act, so that we and our children
may experience the rights of gender justice in relation to personal
laws, which would make our relationship with God, human beings
and the world more meaningful.
Thus with the Biblical, theological and the
political basis for our right action, let us go forward together, and
unite to achieve our goal. Let us remember how the daughters of
Zelophehad stood firm to put an end to the loopholes in the existing
law in their time. Let us remember Job, the righteous man, who gave his
daughters inheritance among their brothers.(Job 42:15).
Let us not forget the courageous steps taken by Mary
Roy, a divorced Syrian Christian woman of Kerala in our time, to fight
for an equal share with her brother in her father's property. Her
long legal battle which went all the way up to the Supreme Court was
instrumental in repealing the Travancore and Cochin Christian Marriage
Acts of 1916 and 1921 with retrospective effect from 1952, in the year
1986. But Mary Roy and others still have not been able to claim
their rightful share of their inheritance, in spite of the Supreme
Court decision, because of many obstructions put in their way.
Men are not in any hurry to part with their patriarchal power.
And so, the struggle continues.
Conclusion:
Through the story of the daughters of Zelophehad, we
are called to demand gender justice in relation to the existing
discriminatory laws that govern us. In the Biblical text we read
that the laws of inheritance were drawn up by Moses and the leaders,
and seem to be endorsed by God, without taking into consideration the
needs of unmarried daughters. Yet, there is a positive element
expressed here; when the injustice was pointed out, both the human
leaders and God were willing to listen and rectify the unjust decree to
make it more inclusive.
But today do our church leaders and those in
positions of power have this kind of open mind to listen, accept their
oversight, and act immediately to rectify the errors?
Prioritizing of gender justice in the main agenda of the church and
society is not just an option but an imperative that should be acted on
without delay.
Recommendations for Further Study and Action:
1. Read and study the Christian Personal Laws
presently in force, and the proposed changes.
(These are available through:
(Joint Women’s Programme, Delhi)
2. Find out whether or not your church leaders
have taken a decision to demand the passage of the
draft legislation on the three bills still pending.
3. Either personally, or as a group, write to:
Minister of Law, Government of
India
Shastri Bhavan, New Delhi
4. Find out about the Special Marriages Act, whose
provisions are more just and equitable.
Questions for Discussion:
1. What is your reaction to the action taken by the
five daughters of Zelophehad?
2. What are some of the ways in which the Christian
Personal Laws discriminate against women?
Share specific examples or experiences you may know
of.
3. Why is it so difficult to get these laws changed?
4. Do you favor enacting a Uniform Civil Code
for all communities? What problems does it
raise? Give reasons for and
against.
Endnotes:
1. Most Protestant and Orthodox churches list
Ex. 20:17 as the tenth commandment. The
Lutheran and Roman Catholic churches break this into
two commandments, the ninth and tenth. Metzger
& Coogan, eds., The Oxford
Companion to the Bible, NY: OUP, 1993, p. 737.
2. Gandhi, Nandita, & Nandita Shah, The
Issues at Stake, Delhi: Kali for Women, 1991, pp.
245-248.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Gandhi, Nandita, & Nandita Shah, The Issues at Stake, Delhi: Kali
for Women, 1991.
Gupta, Jyoti, Christian Marriage Law, Our Laws 7, Multiple
Action Research Group for the Department of Women
and Child Development Ministry of Human Resources
Development, Government of India, 1992.
Guthrie, D & J.A. Motyer, New Bible Commentary,
Leicester: Inter-Varsity Press, 1970.
Haksar, Nandita, Demystification of Law for Women. New Delhi:
Lancer Press, 1986.
Newsom, Carol, & Sharon Ringe (eds.) The Women’s
Bible
Commentary, Louisville:
Westminster/John Knox, 1992.