UN study calls on Syria to grant women more rights

DAMASCUS, Apr 28 (Reuters) A joint United Nations and Syrian study called on the Syrian government to take steps to end social discrimination against women and grant them more say in the political system.

''As soon as a man and a woman marry and form a family, the man's rights far exceed the woman's in legislation covering citizenship, penal code and personal affairs,'' said the study yesterday, conducted by the United Nations Development Fund for Women and the Syrian Commission for Family Affairs.

Under Syrian law, children of women married to non-Syrians have no right to citizenship, unlike children of Syrian men with foreign wives, the study said.

A woman needs a guardian's signature to marry legally and only the husband can divorce the wife. Syrian women receive only half of the man's share in inheritance.

''Precise mechanisms are called for to help women reach decision making positions on the social, economic and political levels. Laws that discriminate against women must be reviewed to conform to international norms,'' said the study.

Discrimination in employment is rife, the study said, adding that only 20 percent of the workforce are women, according to official statistics, which list most women as housewives or ''committed to family''.

''Traditional social practices are enshrined into law, making women subjected to men, while men are looked at as independent individuals with a respected identity,'' the study said.

The education gap has narrowed, however, to the point where half of higher education students are women, said the study, released at a conference attended by Vice President Najah al-Attar, the first woman to hold such a position in Syria.

MONOPOLY ON POWER Assad recently appointed Attar as one of two vice presidents, a first in the Arab world. Syria has also more women in parliament than most of the rest of the region.

Women comprise 12 per cent of Syria's parliament, compared with around four per cent in the Arab world and 13 per cent world-wide, the study said.

But parliament plays a limited role in political life, with power firmly in the grip of President Bashar al-Assad and his inner circle. The Baath party, which has been in power since 1963, has promised ''popular democracy'', but has not delivered.

''A deep democratic change is called for,'' the study said.

Although local media is giving some exposure to women's rights, the issue is not deemed important and few expect Arab governments, including Syria, to tackle it any time soon.

Ali al-Zaatari, head of the United Nations Development Fund in Syria, said a consensus has to be reached first that includes clerics and women rights activists. ''There must be a dialogue,'' Zaatari said.

REUTERS KP0953