Several months late, Morocco has announced the reform of the Family Code or Moudawana, with the inclusion of more than one hundred amendments that have obtained the approval of King Mohamed VI and the Superior Council of Ulema, the highest religious authority in the country. Now, the rule will have to be approved by Parliament, something that will most likely happen after six months of intense debate between the conservative and liberal sectors.
Feminist and human rights groups had requested a review of the law to guarantee parity and greater rights for women and girls, but the new text does not fully respond to those demands and aspirations.
Although the new Family Code revises the exemptions for marriage of minors and expands the rights of women in matters of guardianship and custody of children, it maintains polygamy with the approval of the first wife and in cases in which she does not. is fertile or cannot have sexual relations due to some illness.
The legal age for marriage remains 18 years, but exemptions issued by a family judge are possible for minors, starting at 17 years old, compared to the 15 years established in the previous text. Regarding the guardianship and custody of the children, which was previously automatically assigned to the father, it will now be shared by both parents, even after divorce and when the mother remarries. The latter was one of the main demands of women’s rights defenders.
Regarding inheritance – according to the Koran, male children receive twice as much as daughters – it has not been equalized between men and women, but the new rule allows parents to freely make donations or wills of their assets to their daughters. The Moroccan Minister of Islamic Affairs, Ahmed Tawfiq, explained in the presentation of the reform that it excludes the marital home from inheritance and considers the wife’s work within the home as a contribution to the development of the assets acquired during the marriage relationship.
A rule to “continue dominating women”
On the occasion of the publication of the new Family Code, the Moroccan activist of the Alternative Movement for Individual Liberties (MALI), Betty Lachgar, explains to elDiario.es that “the Moudawana undermines the dignity of women and tramples on their rights.” “Since the reform and throughout the entire process, we have seen men working on the proposals and the new version. Once again, we are witnessing a masquerade in which men write texts for men that allow them to continue dominating women.”
The Moroccan feminist lists some of the limitations that the changes present regarding women. On the one hand, one wonders why there is an exception on marriage for girls under 17 years of age. “The culture of pedocriminality is entrenched. We adapt to the desires of men, we keep girls uneducated and without higher education. At 17, girls generally have not finished high school. In short, they are relegated to the private sphere as wives and mothers,” she laments.
Regarding polygamy, Lachgar believes that it should not be regulated, but directly abolished. “We know the pressures that women will be under not to include their refusal in the marriage contract. Once again, it will be women from low socioeconomic backgrounds who will suffer the consequences. It is another form of violence,” he says. Furthermore, it insists that “women are reduced to their reproductive functions and to being nothing more than sexual objects, essentializing women, transmitting discrimination and shamelessly reinforcing sexist stereotypes.”
Regarding the creation of a conciliation body in case of divorce, the activist considers that the measure “demonstrates a total ignorance of the reality on the ground and the issue of male violence against women.” “The creation of this body, which already exists in part with trials, is totally counterproductive and benefits, once again, men, feeding rape culture,” he adds.
Finally, the MALI activist points out that one of the greatest demands from feminist associations has not been included in the reform of the Family Code: the recognition of paternity and filiation through DNA tests in favor of boys and girls born outside of marriage, and therefore considered “illegitimate.” “As a feminist, I demand that the reproductive autonomy of women outside of marriage be respected and that all boys and girls be recognized,” she concludes.
The new code includes some measures such as forcing biological parents to support their child born out of wedlock, who can also inherit from their parents through a will or a donation.
The Family Code, which had already been reformed in 2004, during the first years of the reign of Mohamed VI, aims to strengthen the figure of the family in Morocco. Even so, in recent years, its application has been marked by political ups and downs, especially between 2011 and 2021, with the Islamist governments of the Justice and Development Party, led by prime ministers Saadeddine Othmani and Abdelilah Benkirane.
Although the Islamists lost the 2021 elections and the current prime minister, Aziz Akhannouch, leader of the National Rally of Independents, came to power, the Moroccan monarch entrusted the latest reform to the opinion of the ulama or doctors of religion. To make the final decision, the Muslim representatives were in charge of applying the Sharia tradition, typical of the Moroccan Constitution, so they ruled out reforming the distribution of inheritance because it contradicts Islamic law, among other things.
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