Abstract
In the aftermath of the Arab spring, the expected positive impulse for gender equality seems rather the reverse. In Morocco however, women’s organizations have been fighting for decades for gender equality, with as a highpoint: the reform of the Mudawana (Morocco’s Family Law) in 2004. The reforms were preceded by vociferous debates between modernists and religious conservatives. Although the revisions of family law in 2004 accomplished the goal of greater legal equity between men and women in several areas of civil society, many Moroccans harbor serious reservations about the legal changes. Based on anthropological research conducted in the Netherlands and North-eastern Morocco, we propose a paper onthis chapter discusses how and why the reforms of the Mudawana were accomplished in Morocco and how these changes are implemented in the practices of daily life. The principal focus is on the Mudawana reforms that affect the options for women in divorce proceedings. Through an analysis of the revisions of Moroccan family law pertaining to marriage and divorce, the authors challenge the common portrayal of Muslim women as merely passive victims of their religion and culture. Instead, they argue that Moroccan women navigate between a range of structural constraints in order to claim an effective form of personal agency, enabling them to defend their own interests, which is not always making use of the “new” rights given.
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Notes
- 1.
In 1965 and 1993 there were two minor revisions. Still, compared to men women enjoyed fewer rights concerning divorce, child custody and inheritance.
- 2.
Stichting Steun Remigranten (SSR) is a Dutch transnational organization based in Northern Morocco, Berkane. They primarily give legal aid to Dutch Moroccan return migrants.
- 3.
Jansen (2007) compares the recent family reforms in Egypt, Tunisia, and Morocco. She concludes that Tunisia’s family law is the most progressive, but Morocco has made the greatest stride forward, and is for example the only one of the three countries where the marriage age of men and women is equal for both (18 years).
- 4.
Translation of the Mudawana in English: http://www.hrea.org/moudawana.html#book1.
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Storms, O., Bartels, E. (2017). The Reform of the Moroccan Family Law and Women’s Daily Lives: Navigating Between Structural Constraints and Personal Agency. In: Touaf, L., Boutkhil, S., Nasri, C. (eds) North African Women after the Arab Spring. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-49926-0_10
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