(Revised) Annotation 3: Laws against adultery impose discrimination and violence on women

   Laws are made to restrict people’s behavior. So, there are laws against adultery, whose intent is to show its incompatibility with the society and also validity of a marriage contract. However, in several countries, punishing people who commit adultery by severe penalties turns out offending against human rights and imposing conspicuous discrimination and violence on women. These laws deviate from their original purposes and bring about social problems which for a long time, human beings have tried so hard to deal with. Therefore, after reading the reference composed by Frances Raday in “Oxford Human Rights Hub”, I go to search the details of these laws in “Wikipedia” which are displayed in the following paragraphs.

  In Article 333 of the Criminal Law in Philippines, adultery is defined as “Adultery is committed by any married woman who shall have sexual intercourse with a man not her husband．．．” The subject in the text only refers to females. This law shows inequality in gender. Although men in Philippines are convict of a related act of concubinage, the word “adultery” should not refer to specific sex. Everyone is likely to engage in adultery.  And also, “in some Islam countries where the law prohibits adultery for men as well as women, men are permitted to take more than one wife and also to enter into temporary marriages.” Here, we see the laws have defects. They provide men with privileges to avoid being punished. A man won’t be criminalized if he marries to his mistress in time before being found he has committed adultery.

  In Pakistan, “the Hudood Ordinance requires a woman making an accusation of rape to provide extremely strong evidence to avoid being charged with adultery herself.” However, this unreasonable request does brutal violence on women since “a conviction for rape is only possible with evidence from no fewer than four witnesses.” Moreover, “honor killings” exist legally in Jordan. In Article 340 of the Penal Code of Jordan states that “he who discovers his wife or one of his female relatives committing adultery and kills, wounds, or injures one of them, is exempted from any penalty." That means men can kill or injure women only for maintaining their dignity and reputations.  Life is the basic human rights, but it works differently in Jordan: honor is the priority.

  Laws are made to keep social order instead of creating problems and arousing controversy. It is time for following in developed countries' steps: decriminalizing adultery. Abolishing these laws cannot fully protect women. However, it is for sure that if they are not abandoned, women are meant to be injured. 

References:

Frances Raday. ( 2012, November 2). Decriminalizing adultery: Eliminating discrimination and violence against women. Oxford Human Rights Hub

Retrieved from: http://ohrh.law.ox.ac.uk/?p=475

Adultery. Wikipedia

Retrieved from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adultery#Honor_killings

Criminal law (Philippines).

Retrieved from:  
http://criminallawphilippines.wordpress.com/2010/03/16/c1-adultery-concubinage-art-333-334/