BAGHDAD: A contentious draft law being considered in Iraq could open the door to girls as young as nine getting married and would require wives to submit to sex on their husband's whim, provoking outrage from rights activists and many Iraqis who see it as a step backward for women's rights.

The measure, aimed at creating different laws for Iraq's majority Shia population, could further fray the country's divisions amid some of the worst bloodshed since the sectarian fighting that nearly ripped the country apart after the US-led invasion.

It also comes as more and more children under 18 get married in the country.

''That law represents a crime against humanity and childhood,'' prominent Iraqi human rights activist Hana Adwar told The Associated Press.

''Married underage girls are subjected to physical and psychological suffering.

Iraqi law now sets the legal age for marriage at 18 without parental approval. Girls as young as 15 can be married only with a guardian's approval.

The proposed new measure, known as the Jaafari Personal Status Law, is based on the principles of a Shia school of religious law founded by Jaafar Al Sadiq, the sixth Shia imam.

Iraq's Justice Ministry late last year introduced the draft measure to the Cabinet, which approved it last month despite strong opposition by rights groups and activists.

The draft law does not set a minimum age for marriage. Instead, it mentions an age in a section on divorce, setting rules for divorces of girls who have reached the age of nine years in the lunar Islamic calendar.

It also says that's the age girls reach puberty. Since the Islamic calendar year is 10 or 11 days shorter than the Gregorian calendar, that would be the equivalent of eight years and eight months old.

The bill makes the father the only parent with the right to accept or refuse the marriage proposal.

Critics of the bill believe that its authors slipped the age into the divorce section as a backhanded way to allow marriages of girls that young.

Already, government statistics show that nearly 25 per cent of marriages in Iraq involved someone under the age of 18 in 2011, up from 21 per cent in 2001 and 15 per cent in 1997.

Planning Ministry spokesman Abdul Zahra Hendawi said the practice of underage marriage is particularly prevalent in rural areas and some provinces where illiteracy is high.

Also under the proposed measure, a husband can have sex with his wife regardless of her consent.

The bill also prevents women from leaving the house without their husband's permission, would restrict women's rights in matters of parental custody after divorce and make it easier for men to take multiple wives.

Parliament must still ratify the bill before it becomes law. That is unlikely to happen before parliamentary elections scheduled for April 30, though the Cabinet support suggests it remains a priority for Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki's administration.

Al Maliki is widely expected to seek a third term. Baghdad-based analyst Hadi Jalo suggested that election campaigning might be behind the proposal.

''Some influential Shia politicians have the impression that they should do their best to make any achievement that would end the injustice that had been done against the Shia in the past,'' Jalo said.

The formerly repressed Shia majority came to power after the 2003 US-led invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein's Sunni-led regime. Since then, Shia religious and political leaders have encouraged followers to pour in millions into streets for religious rituals, a show of their strength.

Iraqi Justice Minister Hassan Al Shimmari, a Shia, has brushed off the criticism of the bill. His office introduced a companion bill that calls for the establishment of special Shia courts that would be tied to the sect's religious leadership.

Al Shimmari insists that the bill is designed to end injustices faced by Iraqi women in past decades, and that it could help prevent illicit child marriage outside established legal systems.

''By introducing this draft law, we want to limit or prevent such practices,'' Al Shimmari said.

But Sunni female lawmaker Likaa Wardi believes it violates women's and children's rights and creates divisions in society.

''The Jaffari law will pave the way to the establishments of courts for Shia only, and this will force others sects to form their own courts. This move will widen the rift among the Iraqi people,'' Wardi said.

New York-based Human Rights Watch also strongly criticized the law this week. ''Passage of the Jaafari law would be a disastrous and discriminatory step backward for Iraq's women and girls,'' deputy Middle East director Joe Stork said in a statement. ''This personal status law would only entrench Iraq's divisions while the government claims to support equal rights for all.''

It is unclear how much support the bill enjoys among Iraqi Shia, but Jalo, the analyst, believes that it would face opposition from secular members of the sect.

Qais Raheem, a Shia government employee living in eastern Baghdad, said the draft bill contradicts the principles of a modern society.

"The government officials have come up with this backward law instead of combating corruption and terrorism," said Raheem who has four children, including two teenage girls. "This law legalizes the rape and we should all reject it."