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Based on a study of transnational divorce in Dutch-Moroccan and Dutch-Egyptian families, this paper will analyse the role of ethnicity, social class and difference in transnational divorce narratives. It will show how public narratives on marriage migration, fraudulent marriages and cultural difference influence the stories people tell about their marriage and subsequent divorce and how they make sense of their experiences. These public narratives are not limited to a national context but move across borders, circulating in transnational social fields. By studying at both intraethnic and inter-ethnic relationships, this paper also aims to further complicate notions of ethnicity in transnational relationships. By studying these two categories of transnational marriage together, it becomes clear how ethnicity intersects with other social inequalities such as social class as well as how differences ascribed to regional origin can produce ethnic differences even within inter-ethnic marriages.

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In the Netherlands, where views of Muslims and Islamic family law are highly politicised, the application of Islamic family laws by Dutch courts is a topic of heated political debate. Especially polygamy and unilateral divorce by men (talaq) are thought to have a strongly negative impact on the position of Muslim women in the family. In order to assess the gendered impact of Islamic family laws in a European context, this article takes a closer look at Dutch state courts’ decisions. It asks how the application of Islamic family laws can be understood against the background of Dutch political discourses on Islam, family law and women’s rights. While in public and political debates, Islamic family laws are frequently thought to be women-unfriendly, this article shows that the encounter between Islamic family laws and Dutch law often has severe impact on the position of Muslim men living in the Netherlands.

Many Moroccans living in Europe maintain transnational ties with their country of origin. Maintaining such transnational relationships also has a legal dimension, especially in the field of family law. The ongoing significance of Moroccan family law for Moroccan migrants in the Netherlands and their children has fuelled a variety of projects from women's NGOs, migrant organisations, as well as Dutch social work organisations. In addition to providing transnational legal aid, there have been many initiatives to educate women and, more recently, men, about their rights in Dutch and Moroccan family law and Dutch migration law. While these projects have been taking place since the 1980s, they gained new momentum after Morocco substantially reformed its family law in 2004, a reform explicitly framed to improve the legal position of women in the family. Taking a closer look at initiatives and activities in the field of transnational Moroccan family law, this paper will focus on two major issues: the introduction of the new Moroccan family code in 2004 and the issue of women left-behind in Morocco by their Moroccan-Dutch husbands.