Class Year
2018
Document Type
Student Research Paper
Publication Date
Spring 2016
Department 1
Anthropology
Abstract
In American media, the term "sharia law" is repetitively used as a reason behind practices and actions linked to Islam which would be considered counter to Western morals. The term "sharia" is first clarified as having many definitions, but in legal terms each Islamic nation has their own version of "sharia." Child marriage is one of many topics often blamed on "sharia" and this essay attempts to debunk the Western portrayal of "sharia" by exploring the reality of child marriage in some Islamic nations. The examples depict both situations in which the people, despite the laws, are actively keeping this practice in place and a disconnect between child marriages and a lack of access to education for women. In conclusion, there is a variance between the depiction of "sharia law" in the media and the reality of "sharia" in many Islamic nations.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Luckenbaugh, Megan S., "The Myth of “Sharia” and Child Marriage" (2016). What All Americans Should Know About Women in the Muslim World. 8.
https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/islamandwomen/8
Included in
Family, Life Course, and Society Commons, Islamic Studies Commons, Near and Middle Eastern Studies Commons, Politics and Social Change Commons, Regional Sociology Commons, Social and Cultural Anthropology Commons, Sociology of Religion Commons, Women's Studies Commons
Comments
This paper was written for Professor Amy Evrard's course, ANTH 218: Islam and Women, Spring 2016.