“After extensive consultations with the various state institutions, with civil society, with the religious community and the legal profession, I have taken this decision to send the family code for a second reading to ensure calm and a peaceful society, and to obtain the support and understanding of our fellow citizens,” declared Touré.

 

Under the proposed law, women no longer would have been required to obey their husbands. Women also would have received greater inheritance rights, and in most cases, would not have had to marry until age 18.

 

Women’s groups supporting equal rights have been trying for 10 years to get the law changed.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

 

Mali Women's Rights Bill Blocked (by Martin Vogl, BBC News)

Mali: Protests against Law Giving Equal Rights to Women (by Noel Brinkerhoff, AllGov)