India Speaks on UCC: Majority Muslim women in favour of common laws on marriage, divorce, inheritance

A mega survey on Uniform Civil Code (UCC) by News18 has found that at least 67.2 per cent of Muslim women support the common law for all Indians for matters such as marriage, divorce and adoption. Over 8,035 Muslim women participated in the survey from 25 states and Union Territories. The participants were 18 to 65 plus, hailing from different communities, regions, educational and marital statuses. **Also read: What Muslim Women Want: Overwhelming majority in favour of 21 years as legal age for marriage** The promulgation of UCC will mean one law that will be applicable to all Indian citizens irrespective of their religion. The laws will cover personal matters like marriage, divorce, adoption, and inheritance, among other things. What has the survey found? When asked if they support the common laws for all Indians, 67.2 per cent of the total women surveyed answered ‘yes’ and 25.4 per cent said ’no’ while 7.4 per cent said ‘don’t know or can’t say.’ Notably, when the UCC was in talks, Muslim organisations in India strongly condemned them saying it would affect all religions. In terms of educational qualifications, 68.4 per cent or 2,076 graduated women said they support UCC while 27 per cent said they do not support it. Meanwhile, in case of age-wise responses, 69.4 per cent of women aged between 18-44 said they were in support of UCC and 24.2 per cent said they do not want common laws for all.