Guaranteeing Women's Rights Under the New Mahriyeh Law
2024-01-30
A perspective from Mahsan Mohajer, attorney at law.
At a time when reform of the mahriyeh (dower) law is dominating the news, the central concern of many Iranian women is preserving their economic security and financial rights within marriage. The new mahriyeh law, whose general framework has been approved by the Islamic Consultative Assembly, attempts to strike a lasting balance between decarceration policy and the protection of women's rights. But the key question is: does this law really protect women's rights?
The new mahriyeh law: a step toward justice without imprisonment
Under the new reform bill, the criminal ceiling on mahriyeh has been reduced from 110 gold coins to 14 gold coins, and men who are unable to pay are placed under electronic monitoring and an installment payment system instead of imprisonment. This decision was made to reduce the prison population and prevent the breakdown of families; but from the standpoint of women's rights, the key point is that the wife's financial right remains fully intact — only the criminal enforcement mechanism has changed.
Under Article 1082 of the Civil Code, a woman becomes the owner of her mahriyeh the moment the marriage contract is concluded, and no legislative reform can eliminate this underlying right. The new law therefore only adjusts the method of collecting the mahriyeh, so that both the woman's human dignity is preserved and the man's financial inability no longer leads to imprisonment.
Legal guarantees protecting women under the new law
To prevent women's rights from being undermined, the new mahriyeh law provides several layers of legal protection:
1. The right to claim the full mahriyeh remains intact. There is no restriction on claiming mahriyeh. A woman can still go to court or to the enforcement office and claim the entire amount stated in the marriage contract. The only difference is in how the judgment is enforced — not in the underlying right itself.
2. Assets, bank accounts, and the husband's income can be seized. Under Articles 4 and 23 of the Act on the Enforcement of Financial Judgments, any real assets of the husband — from bank accounts to real estate and vehicles — can be seized to pay the mahriyeh. In practice, the wife still has effective tools to collect what is owed to her, even without her husband being imprisoned.
3. Installment payments under judicial supervision. Mahriyeh installments are carried out by court order and under a judge's supervision. If the husband defaults on an installment, the court can immediately order the seizure of his assets or issue an exit ban against him. This turns the wife's right from an emotional, threat-based situation into a precise, legally enforceable system.
4. A proposed national mahriyeh payment system. One of the supplementary proposals under consideration is a national mahriyeh system to monitor payments, where the wife could track the payment process online, and the system would automatically issue a judicial warning if the husband fell behind. This would be an effective step toward transparency and trust-building in marital financial relations.
A gender-justice perspective
On the surface, the new mahriyeh law might appear to favor men, but a closer look shows that its real goal is to create balance between the wife's rights and the husband's responsibility. Under this new system, women not only do not lose their right, but by removing imprisonment, they are also spared the undesirable psychological and social effects of having a spouse incarcerated.
From a gender-justice standpoint, this law is an attempt to strengthen the woman's position within the family without turning her into an instrument of punishment. A woman can secure her right by relying on the law and civil enforcement tools, without needing to go to court over every single coin or carry the heavy burden of guilt or pity.
Proper implementation: the real condition for success
The reality is that no legislative reform succeeds without precise implementation and social awareness-building. If judicial bodies, enforcement offices, banks, and marriage registries properly educate women on how to pursue their mahriyeh through clear, lawful channels, this law could become a turning point in protecting women's rights.
But if sufficient public information is not provided, and women come to feel that the new law has weakened the deterrent power behind mahriyeh, distrust could re-emerge. For this reason, the role of lawyers, the media, and the judiciary in explaining the philosophy of this law and ensuring its precise implementation is vital.
Closing thoughts
As an attorney and advocate for women's rights, I believe that if properly interpreted and implemented, the new mahriyeh law can become a bridge between justice and humanity. Under this new system, women are not deprived of their mahriyeh right — they are simply given a clearer path to obtaining it. The mahriyeh law should be a guarantee of a woman's economic security, not a source of conflict or a tool to punish the husband — and this is precisely the outlook reflected well in the recent reform.
Ultimately, truly guaranteeing women's rights depends on the fair implementation of the law and precise legal education for society. When an Iranian woman knows the law stands behind her, she no longer needs fear, pleading, or pressure — she can defend her right with dignity, respect, and confidence, under the protection of the law.