A new act in England will recognize get refusal as domestic abuse in the hope that it will lower the number of get refusers in the country, the Jewish Chronicle (JC) reported.
A get is a Jewish divorce that the husband has to give the wife, otherwise, she cannot marry again, and sometimes husbands purposely hold back from giving a get, which leaves the wife unable to continue with her life.
The act was backed by the chief executive of Jewish Women's Aid Naomi Dickson and states that "the ability to refuse to give a get provides abusive husbands with power and control and will be used often to exert leverage in relation to other aspects of divorce."
"We have worked with many women for whom get refusal has been weaponized by their perpetrator," she said. "It has become another tool of abuse, used to punish the woman and to hold them to a marriage which is dead, preventing them (and sometimes their children) from moving on with their lives."
Dickson added that she believed the new act would deter get refusal in the future as well as help many women who have been waiting a long time for a get.
A few women who were refused a get in the past sued their ex-husbands for controlling and coercive behavior, but the new act will allow the Crown Prosecution Service to initiate legal action where they see fit, according to the JC report.
The Federation of Synagogues Beth Din is not convinced by the act, warning women that if they go straight to prosecution without rabbinic sanction, it could make the get invalid because the get is supposed to be given voluntarily. In a statement, the Federation said that this warning was to ensure that the legislation would "be used to help rather than hinder the plight of agunos (women who are refused get)."