Not consistently: there is documented evidence that some British sharia councils treat women unfairly, and women’s participation cannot be assumed to be free from
pressure. But the evidence does not establish that every council discriminates or that every woman attends unwillingly. The government-commissioned 2018 review of England and Wales found both good and bad practices, sometimes within the same council.[
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Do their procedures treat women fairly?
The review documented several probles:
- Unequal charges and delays: women were reportedly charged more than men for the same service—sometimes up to four times as much—and faced lengthier divorce processes.
- Financial concessions: women were asked to make concessions to husbands to secure a divorce, including excessive financial demands in some khula agreements.
- Inadequate safeguarding: examples included asking a forced-marriage victim to attend alongside her family and insisting on mediation as a preliminary step.
- Inappropriate questioning: some women faced unnecessary questioning about intimate relationship matters.[researchbriefings.files.parliament]
The government’s response explicitly acknowledged evidence of councils forcing women to make concessions, inadequate safeguarding, and failures to direct applicants towards legal remedies, calling this “not acceptable.”[
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There were also positive findings: some councils reported violence to police, reduced or waived fees, referred financial and child-related matters to civil courts, and treated a civil divorce as sufficient grounds to issue a religious divorce. The review reported that, in practically every case described to it in which a woman sought divorce, one was granted. That outcome, however, does not establish that the process was fair.[
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Is participation genuinely voluntary?
Legally voluntary is not the same as socially unconstrained. The review states that there is no legal duty to comply with religious law and that sharia councils have no jurisdiction as state courts. Nevertheless, it identified concerns about cultural, family and community pressures on women to use council processes rather than civil remedies or accredited family mediation.[
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There are two distinct reasons a woman might attend:
- Personal religious conviction: she may genuinely want a divorce recognised by her faith, even after obtaining a civil divorce.
- Constrained choice: she may feel unable to move on or remarry without religious recognition, while facing family or community expectations and a husband who refuses to cooperate. The review describes an asymmetry: husbands generally have access to unilateral talaq, whereas wives ordinarily need another divorce route unless their marriage contract gives them a corresponding right.[assets.publishing.service.gov]
These circumstances can overlap. A woman can sincerely want a religious divorce while also experiencing pressure over where and how she obtains it.
What can we conclude?
The evidence supports the existence of discrimination and pressure, not a reliable estimate of how frequently each occurs. The review acknowledged limited direct testimony about bad practice and difficulty recruiting women with negative experiences. It therefore cannot establish what proportion of proceedings are unfair or how many women participate without meaningful freedom of choice.[
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So the high proportion of female applicants is evidence of women’s need for religious divorce—not, by itself, evidence that councils are fair or participation is unpressured.[
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