HANAN HARITE

Morocco - Many women, including lawyers, politicians and activists, playing an important role in the Moroccan women’s movement struggled and continue to struggle in order to protect and promote women’s rights and achievements in the country. The reforms in the Moroccan Family Code are important achievements of their struggle.

Samira Muheya, the president of the Federal League for Women's Rights in Rabat (La Fédération des Ligue des Droits des Femmes-FLDF), told us the Moroccan women began to achieve their gains in 2004, when the Moroccan Family Code "Moudawana" was adopted by the Moroccan parliament. “Articles 24 and 25 of the family code, give rights to women to exercise marital tutelage according to their choice and interests and to conclude their marriage contract themselves or delegate this power to their fathers or one of their relatives. The reforms in the family code allow women to participate in trade unions and prohibits all kinds of gender-based discriminations such as wage gap between women and men,” Samira Muheya told us.

“Every person will discover the gains achieved by women”

“Every person researching into the reality of Moroccan women will discover the gains that women have achieved in all fields such as political, social, economic or educational field,” Moroccan politician Naima Farah said, “Thanks to the women’s struggle, Moroccan women are able to run for local, regional and general elections. The percentage of women’s participation in decision-making positions is increasing every day.” Stressing the link between women's political empowerment and their participation in social, cultural and institutional areas, she said, “Women must be represented in a way that reflects their reality. There is a need for people to be elected according to objective criteria, to defend the issues of women and the country.”

Soraya Al-Barraj, head of the Association of Struggling Women, believes that women are still far from decision-making positions and controlled by the parties. “Despite the gains achieved by women, we still struggle to have equal rights with men to participate in the decision-making positions. When will we have a female prime minister? Women have the ability to assume this position but it is difficult to achieve this due to the lack of political will. The women's movement will always struggle to achieve more gains.”