RECOGNITION OF DIVORCES AND LEGAL SEPARATION BILL [H.L.] (Hansard, 18 March 1971)

§ THE LORD CHANCELLOR (LORD HAILSHAM OF ST. MARYLEBONE)
My Lords, I beg to move that this Report be now received.

§ BARONESS SUMMERSKILL
My Lords, I take this opportunity to express my regret that I was not here on the Committee stage. I spoke on the Second Reading of this Bill, and I was glad that the noble and learned Lord who sits on the Woolsack was sympathetic to what I said. I did not have an Amendment down on the Committee stage. Nevertheless, a very important debate took place and I did not anticipate the nature of it. The debate concerned in part the position under the Islamic Law of a rather pathetic minority in this country. I am referring to the women who are subject to the Islamic divorce law. On reading the debate carefully, I realised that four of the most brilliant lawyers in the country had differed, and it was decided that the present Bill was not the proper vehicle for the Amendment.
I want once more to remind the House of the conditions of that minority which has fairly suddenly come into our midst. These women, mostly wives of the Pakistanis, come here observing certain conventions. In consequence, they are more or less confined to their houses. This, of course, results in their not acquiring our own language. They become inarticulate, fearful and very backward. Perhaps the few strangers who see them include a doctor—preferably a woman doctor—who can penetrate the household. If the woman comes to the consulting room she is generally accompanied by a small child who can speak English because the child has been to school, and who is there to interpret for the woman. Because of these conditions she does not progress.
571 This woman is subject to the Islamic Law, which means that if a man says, "I divorce you", three times she is thereby divorced. I know perfectly well that a tribunal follows; nevertheless this unfortunate woman is conscious of the fact that her lot will be precarious if she does not behave herself. In a way, I suppose her position is almost akin to that of a slave, because she can be divorced although she is not guilty of any matrimonial offence. Of course, we cannot be very self-righteous about this, because we have recently passed a law which enables the Englishman next door to divorce his wife who has not been guilty of any matrimonial offence; therefore, in that respect the Englishman and the Pakistani are equal. Nevertheless I want your Lordships to imagine the fate of this woman.
I understand that in the Koran it is said that a man who takes two, three or four wives must treat them all alike. In Pakistan that is some help to a woman, because there it would be known that a husband could not afford two or three wives; but in this country if a woman is divorced we do not allow her to starve. We do not let anybody starve. Therefore, quite rightly, she can go and get supplementary benefit from the Ministry of Health and Social Security. We find this unfortunate woman, who comes to this country without her mother, without her father, more or less friendless in this vulnerable position. I recognise that the noble and learned Lord the Lord Chancellor has a great deal of sympathy for these women, and I hope that because on the Committee stage we could not find a solution, in the near future he will use his very agile brain somehow to discover a means whereby these women can be helped.

§ THE LORD CHANCELLOR
My Lords, I do not want to indulge in a debate at this stage, but I am discussing with the noble and learned Lord, Lord Simon of Glaisdale, whether a way can be found of amending this Bill in Committee in another place. I do not make any undertaking, but we are considering it.