BARLAMAN TODAY
Information is everyone's right
Weather Widgets for Websites by Weatherwidget.org

Agadir

19° Light Rain

Beni Mellal

10° Moderate Rain

Casablanca

16° Light Rain

Dakhla

18° Few Clouds

Errashidia

22° Few Clouds

Fez

19° Light Rain

Guelmim

18° Few Clouds

Laayoune

20° Scattered Clouds

Marrakesh

16° Light Rain

Oujda

21° Few Clouds

Rabat

18° Light Rain

Tangier

14° Light Rain

Uphill Struggle By Moroccan Women for Family Law Reform

On the occasion of International Women’s day, the Union of Women’s Action organized, Saturday in Rabat, the 20th Family Law Symbolic Trial under the slogan “Society’s Democratization Hinges on Comprehensive and Radical Change of the Family Law”.

The symbolic trial is one of the tools through which the Union voices its concerns over the status of women in society. It is also a way to reveal many manifestations of discrimination and violence that impede women’s freedom and enjoyment of their human rights at the decision-making and law-making levels.
Morocco’s fast-paced economic changes, rapid urbanization and demographic evolution generated profound mutations in social structures and lifestyles. These changes altered social relations, in particular those between men and women regarding education, jobs, social roles…
In this regard, the women-led union strives to eradicate discrimination against women and girls, given that this inequality generates problems such as domestic and sexual abuse, lower pay, lack of access to education, and poor healthcare.
“The Family Law runs entirely counter the provisions of the constitution. It is necessary to expose all the gaps of the text which is full of discriminatory and patriarchal language that dehumanizes women and limits their roles to sexual intercourse, household work, and raising children”, said President of the Union of Women’s Action Aicha Lhayan.
She mentioned that several clauses shackle women and deem them unable to assume children’s responsibilities. “The text forbids the mother from changing the child’s school without the father’s permission, opening a bank account for him, or traveling with him abroad, especially after divorce.”
To make the symbolic trial similar to the real one, it consisted of three bodies: the judicial body, the experts, and the defense body.
Based on the defense body’s demands and experts’ interventions, the Judicial body issued judgments in compatibility with women’s grievances.
For her part, Vice President of the Union of Women’s Action Fatima El Maghnaoui said “the topics of each year’s trial were chosen based on the cases that the Annajda drop-in center received”.
“Women are making their voice heard pursuant to the reform of Law 103.13 on violence, the constitutionalization of equality provisions in the 2011 constitution, and the Royal speech on reviewing the Family Law”, she added.
According to the experts, jurisprudence-based provisions became outdated. Consequently, the working mechanisms yielding related verdicts should change. Concerning women’s contribution to society and the country, it was suggested that prenup-like obligatory clauses have to be added to the Family Law for equal division of possessions in case of divorce.
The government also needs to pay women monthly housekeeping fees, and financially assist divorced women, they said.
From a journalistic perspective, the experts called on media outlets to shed light on these marginalized cases and to shape a decent image of women in order to erase all harmful stereotypes.
The participants in the trial unanimously agreed on the necessity to revoke clause 400 of the Family Law that reads “for all issues not addressed by a text in the present code, reference may be made to the Malikite School of Jurisprudence and to ijtihad (juridical reasoning) which strive to fulfill and enhance Islamic values, notably justice, equality, and amicable social relations”.
Member of the trial’s defense body Lawyer Naima El Gallaf told BarlamanToday “the Family Law needs a drastic change because of the gaps and imbalances in some clauses, such as minor marriage, polygamy, inheritance, and property division.
The lawyer added that Family Law has to be statutory and undergo the same legislation procedures as other laws.
The defense body provided concrete cases such as the case of Aicha, aged 32, who had 4 girls and was in her sixth month of pregnancy. After the gender reveal, the husband decided to remarry to have a boy and obliged her to sign the approval document for the second marriage. The woman ended up taking her own life and her daughters’.
The second case was about an Amazighi woman who was married to a widow and was thrown out of home by his sons after his death because she did not bear a male heir.
The symbolic trial ended with the verdict which is in favor of the radical and comprehensive reform of the Family Law.