According to the key findings of India’s biggest UCC survey conducted by the News18 Network, majority of Muslim women are in support of what experts say could be the major tenets of any Uniform Civil Code (UCC).

News18 Mega UCC Poll- India’s Biggest Survey of Muslim Women

While Muslim women across all age groups support the widely expected to be part of the UCC, there is higher support among younger women (18-44) compared to older women (44+). The numbers in favour are also higher among the highly educated Muslim women (graduate+).

As part of this survey process, 884 News18 reporters interviewed 8,035 Muslim women across 25 states and Union Territories in the country, to understand what they think about the issues the UCC is likely to address, rather than the proposed bill as a whole.

The questions asked in this survey did not make any mention of the UCC and were strictly limited to the themes the UCC is likely to cover.

Key Findings

1. 67.2% of all Muslim women surveyed agreed that there should be a common law for all Indians for personal matters such as marriage, divorce, adoption and inheritance. The responses were slightly higher at 68.4% for graduate+ respondents.

2. 76.5% of all Muslim women (graduate+ at 78.6%) disagree with polygamy and say that Muslim men should not have the right to marry four women.

3. The highest support from women is on the question of equal rights of succession and inheritance of property irrespective of gender — 82.3% overall; 85.7% graduate+.

4. 73.7% of all respondents agree that divorced couples should be allowed to remarry without any restriction.

5. Although there was agreement on the question of adoption, the percentage of Muslim women agreeing that adoption should be allowed regardless of religion was much lower than the other questions asked in the survey (overall: 64.9%; graduate+: 69.5%).

6. 69.3% of all respondents (73.1% graduate+) agree that all Indians who have attained the age of majority should be free to will away their property as they please.

7. There is very high support for raising the minimum age for marriage for both men and women to 21. 78.7% of all Muslim women supported increasing the minimum age and 82.4% of graduate+ women agreed.

Why Muslim Women?

The UCC, in effect, means one law which would be applicable to all religious communities in matters such as marriage, divorce, inheritance, adoption, maintenance, among others. Muslim organisations reacted strongly to the Centre's recent announcement that the Law Commission would hold UCC consultations afresh, with the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) saying the "majoritarian morality" should not override religious freedom and rights of minority communities in the name of a code. News18 Network decided to check if its views are indeed shared by the wider community, especially women, who would be most affected if the status quo were to continue.

Methodology

It was an on-ground survey in which 884 News18 reporters across India collected in-person responses from all major Indian states and Union Territories between July 4 and 8. Every participant was reached by a reporter. To ensure greater randomness of responses and higher accuracy, each surveyor (reporter) interviewed, on an average, only nine Muslim women.

The 8,035 respondents of the survey were limited to Muslim women across regions, communities, educational and marital status aged 18-65+. There was wide representation across the educational spectrum, from the illiterate to the post-graduate.

To maintain anonymity of responses, it was optional for the respondents to reveal their names. However, 90% gave their names. News18, however, did not reveal any names or identifiable information of any of the respondents to maintain their privacy.

A professional licensed survey software was used to collect responses to the 16 questions in real-time through a secured mobile interface made available to the on-ground reporters.

The seven key questions asked in the survey

1. Do you support a common law for all Indians for personal matters such as marriage, divorce, adoption and inheritance?

2. Do you think Muslim men should have the right to marry up to four women?

3. Should all men and all women have equal rights of succession and inheritance of property?

4. Should divorced couples be allowed to remarry without any restriction?

5. Should adoption be allowed regardless of religion?

6. Should all Indians who have attained the age of majority be free to will away their property as they please?

7. Do you support 21 years as the legal age of marriage for all men and women?

The Demographics

The survey covered the states of Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chandigarh, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Ladakh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Puducherry, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.

The response languages were Assamese, Bengali, Bodo, English, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Maithili, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Nepali, Odia, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu, among others.

Of the surveyed women, 18.8% were in the 18-24 age group, 32.9% were aged 25-34, 26.6% were aged 35-44, 14.4% were aged 45-54, 5.4% were aged 55-64 and 1.9% were 65+. While 70.3% were married, 24.1% were unmarried, 2.9% were widowed and 2.9% divorced. A total of 73.1% of the respondents were Sunni, 13.3% Shia and 13.6% others.

Among the women surveyed, 10.8% were post-graduates, 27% graduates, 20.8% had studied up to Class 12+, 13.8% were Class 10+, 12.9% had studied till Class 5-10, 4.4% up to Class 5, 4.2% were illiterate and 4.2% had basic literacy, with 1.9% others.