Oman: Fund For Divorced Women

From the Khaleej Times:

A national seminar, in which Oman’s key policymakers actively participated, has called for setting up a fund to pay alimony to women divorced by their husbands.

The ‘Symposium on Women’, which ended on Monday in Sohar, also made a plea to set up marriage guidance centres for women and pave the way for women to become judges.

The conference, the first of its kind in the country and organised on orders from His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said, underlined the need to clarify laws governing women and the family to avoid misinterpretation.

The delegates decided to mark October 17, the day on which the three-day symposium opened, as ‘Omani Women’s Day’ every year.

A communiqué issued after the three-day event urged the authorities to promulgate a law setting up a ‘Livelihood Fund’ for women that must also clearly state their rights and that of their children in the event of a divorce.

“The divorce should not negatively impact their living conditions and health and the education of their children. This will avoid the full burden of the divorce falling on the mother alone,” it pointed out.