Women’s disinheritance in Libya: how women in Benghazi claim long denied inheritance rights.

Legally Libyan women are entitled to inherit land, yet many women are discouraged by family members from claiming their inheritance. This paper explores this discrepancy between norms and practices, by first offering a general legal, historical, and cultural context of women’s rights to land and inheritance in Libya. Then, it details the case of one elderly woman, Um Aliz. Like many Libyan women, she initially felt that she ought not claim her right to inherit land. But in recent years, Um Aliz has changed her mind due to her deteriorating health, children’s encouragements, relatives’ pioneering efforts to claim their rightful inheritance, society’s changing ideas on women’s land rights, and rising land prices. Although Um Aliz’s justice journey is not complete, she has ended her silence and the case has entered the court system. Together with reflections from legal professionals, Um Aliz’s case illustrates the limits of legal reform and the persistence of inheritance practices which are legitimised by reference to tradition. Yet the paper also suggests that amidst great and worrying societal turbulence some Libyan women are emboldened to claim their inheritance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]