Adjudication in Religious Family Laws

Thisbookarguesthatthesharedadjudicationmodelinwhichthestatesplitsitsadjudicativeauthoritywithreligiousgroupsandothersocietalsourcesintheregulationofmarriagecanpotentiallybalanceculturalrightsandgenderequality.Inthismodelthecivicandreligioussourcesoflegalauthorityconstruct,transmitandcommunicateheterogeneousnotionsoftheconjugalfamily,genderrelationsandreligiousmembershipwithintheintersticesofstateandsociety.Insodoing,theyfracturethehomogenizedreligiousidentitiesgroundedinhierarchicalgenderrelationswithintheconjugalfamily.Thesharedadjudicationmodelfacilitatesdiversityasitallowstheconstructionofhybridreligiousidentities,createsfissuresinossifiedgroupboundariesandprovidesinstitutionalspacesforongoingintersocietaldialogue.Thispluralizedlegalsphere,governedbyideologicallydiverselegalactors,canthusincreasegenderequalityandindividualandcollectivelegalmobilizationbywomeneffectsinstitutionalchange.