Unequal divorce and custody rights in Iran and Afghanistan are the main reasons behind the social system that places men at the head of the household and fathers in control of children. In effect, many of the gains women secured as citizens have been nullified through family laws that make their freedom of movement, their desire to work or study, or to end their marriage subject to the approval of their husbands. Thus women are rendered subjects rather than partners of their husbands. While men have had, by religious convention a…