Bahraini Fictions: The Codification of Difference Through Unifying the Family

In 2017, Bahrain promulgated the Unified Family Law, which for the first time, integrates the personal statuses of the Shi'ite community along with the Sunni community, under one legal umbrella. The unification in this sense was met with positivity. However, in this research, I show that unification functions as merely a fiction, rather than a reality. My central question in this research is: how does the promulgation of Law no. 19 of 2017 affect women, the family and society? How does this case study help us understand and deconstruct codification as a modern legal process? I argue that the unified family law codifies difference through the lens of unification. Additionally, through the unified family law, the Bahraini state is exercising hegemony both in a cultural sense and in the discursive sense. Lastly, the unified family law is a means of engineering the ideal family structure, and by extension the ideal citizen. I rely on interviews, primary sources, and secondary sources throughout this analysis. The case of the Unified Family Law in Bahrain, complicates the lives of women, where the state imagines unification, but the reality suggests that women are found at the intersection of gender, sect, and structures of kin. The law functions as an extension of the social space, further requiring women to abide by the social expectations that govern their lives, specifically in cases where a woman's claims compromises the unity of the family.