Morocco's government pledges to revise women's rights
Morocco, Culture, 3/8/1999

Moroccan secretary of state in charge of social protection, family and children, Mohamed Said Saadi, expressed the Moroccan government's commitment to reconsider women's rights.

The official made the announcement at the 4th women court on divorce, held on Saturday by the Union of women action (UAF). He explained that the government's commitment consists in granting priority to education (girls schooling, combating illiteracy), health, alleviating poverty and promoting women's access to decision-making circles.

The UAF Chairwoman, Latifa Jbabdi, called for carrying on debates on the personal statute code (Mudawanna) in order to adapt it to the international conventions signed by Morocco. She also noted the various flaws in the divorce procedure.

She explained that the legal status of Moroccan women, who are considered by the law as minors throughout their life, marks a wide gap between Morocco's yearning for modernity and the reality.

She conceded that some progress was achieved by the 1993 revision of the personal statute code as women can no longer be "repudiated" without their knowledge. There is still a long way to go before women enjoy the same rights as men, she said.

While Morocco can be proud of having four women in the parliament, two women as secretaries of state, some pilots and, more recently police agents, there is a large difference between this symbolic window and the daily life of Moroccan women, she said.

Mrs Jbabdi added that women are not entitled to "divorce" and the only choice left to them is that the husband accepts to "repudiate" his wife. In case a woman leaves her house, she is compelled by the law to return home and even when she is "repudiated," the wife is not entitled to live with her children in the house and to claim her share of the possessions acquired during the marriage.

She further deplored that children born to a Moroccan woman married to a foreigner are denied the Moroccan citizenship.

Hopefully, the socialist-led coalition government, appointed one year ago, and which committed to revise the law regulating marriage and divorce, will live up to its commitments and take broad measures to remedy the situation.

Previous Stories:
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