Morocco: mentor in gender equality in Arab Islamic world

The Moroccan model with regard to the reform of the Family Code (Al-Mudawana), is "extremely excellent" and should be generalized to all Arab and Islamic countries, said Amr Hamzawy, MENA region expert in the Washington-based Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Speaking at a conference held at the Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy (CSID) on "Engaging Moderate Islamists in the Democratic Process: Policy Implications for Morocco, Egypt, and Jordan," Hamzawy hailed Al-Mudawana as an instrument that "fosters equality between husband and wife and grants to women individual civil and political rights."

He said the civil society in Egypt and Jordan are heading towards the choice of liberalization taken by Morocco in the field of equality between the two sexes.

Hamzawy, former professor at Cairo University and the Free University of Berlin, said the Moroccan and Jordanian monarchies play the decisive role of arbitration in case of political divergence about issues of national interest, stressing the involvement of "HM King Mohammed VI in the adoption of the Mudawana."