• Download the Morocco section of Home Truths: A Global Report on Equality in the Muslim Family in English or Arabic. 

• View the report submitted to Musawah in French by l’Association Démocratique des Femmes du Maroc.

• View the Family Code (Moudawana) 2004 in Français, Arabic or English (unofficial translation).

In 2004, Morocco achieved a major reform of the 1958 Code du statut personnel (Personal Status Code), now called the Code de la famille (Family Code) or Moudawana. Although the reform did not include all the proposals made by the feminist movement, the new version of the code is an improvement on the past, both symbolically and in terms of actual provisions, and therefore offers possibilities for future amendments.

Morocco is continuing its democratic transition process and looking to a future based on sustainable development and respect for human rights. Tremendous social changes experienced in Morocco during the past few decades have profoundly affected the status of women and created new realities, needs and aspirations. These changes include increases in women's access to education, including higher education (more than 40 per cent of students), participation in paid work (27 per cent of the population) and participation as heads of household (16.5 per cent); increased use of contraception (over 70 per cent); and greater public participation.

• The old Personal Status Code was out of step with the new realities and relationships between men and women.
   
• Despite the 2004 reform, discrimination and injustices persist, including:
  
  • Minimum age of marriage: The exception to the minimum age does not specify an absolute minimum age or conditions. Judges authorised nearly 89 per cent of applications for marriages of minors, of whom 97.5 per cent are girls (some as young as 13 years). Requests for permission for early marriage continue to rise (22.5 per cent between 2005 and 2006).
  • Polygamy: The justifications for polygamy are not specified. There was a small decline (3.75 per cent) in polygamy between 2005 and 2006, but polygamy still affects vulnerable women who do not have resources to support themselves and their children.
  • Divorce: Judges require large amounts of evidence for certain types of divorce, which causes difficulties for women. Official statistics show an increase in the overall number of divorces recorded between 2004 and 2006 (48.16 per cent), including in types of divorces that tend to favour the husband.
  • Distribution of property acquired during the marriage: Women's contributions in terms of domestic work and care for children, the sick or the elderly are not taken into account.
  • Guardianship of children: A mother may lose custody of children over 7 years old if she remarries. She cannot be the legal guardian of the child in the absence of the father. The father retains guardianship even if the mother has custody; a custodial mother cannot travel abroad with her child without the written permission of the guardian.
  • Inheritance: These provisions remain discriminatory.
     
• There was no comprehensive implementation strategy. This has resulted in lengthy procedures, with insufficient human resources to handle demands. Corruption persists in the courts. These difficulties are compounded for female litigants, as women who use the courts are mostly poor, poorly educated and appear without legal assistance. Some judges are reluctant to apply the new provisions, positioning themselves as defenders of morality and the patriarchal family.

• Achievements in the 2004 reform included:
  
  • Recognition of the principle of equality in the family, including joint responsibility and equal rights and duties for both spouses;
  • Equal age of marriage for men and women (18 years);
  • The abolition of a wife’s duty of obedience to her husband;
  • An equal right to divorce and divorce only by judicial decree.
  • An equal division of matrimonial assets, instead of the present standard practice of awarding only one-third of the assets to the wife.
  • An equal right to custody and guardianship of children.
  • The abolition of compulsory guardianship for women;
  • Regulation of polygamy;
  • Divorce proceedings are subject to judicial review. A number of types of divorce (mutual consent, discord) allow women to initiate divorce;
  • The mother has stronger claims for custody;
  • Spouses can develop separate contracts detailing the management of their property;
  • Recognition of a child’s rights to custody, alimony, paternity, and legitimacy, even if born outside of marriage;
  • Orphaned grandchildren can inherit from maternal as well as paternal grandparents through obligatory bequests.

• The women’s movement is preparing for a number of new struggles:
  • Inheritance reform: Key activities in a new advocacy campaign around inheritance include: (1) preparing doctrinal arguments to show the religious possibility for reform, and sociological arguments on how families circumvent the current rules of inheritance because the rules are not relevant in the current context; and (2) developing a coalition of organisations through training sessions, discussions, and networking.
  • Land rights: Collectively-owned land around urban areas is beginning to be sold, but only men are considered eligible to receive compensation. The plight of women who must leave their land without compensation is being publicised through letters, interviews with officials, press conferences and meetings with the media, as well as a large public sit-in before Parliament that was held in November 2008.
  • Lifting of CEDAW reservations: The King of Morocco officially announced the lifting of all reservations to the CEDAW Convention on International Human Rights Day 2008. This was due in part to a court case on this issue and a national and regional advocacy campaign called ‘Equality Without Reservations’.
  • Women’s political participation: Women’s groups are mobilising for the 2009 elections to raise participation from the current level of 0.6 per cent to 12 to 15 per cent.
  • Reform of the Penal Code: Women’s groups are advocating for reform of the Penal Code and a specific law on violence against women.
     
• Other reforms in recent years include the labour law (2003), criminal law (2003), nationality code (2007) and the electoral code (2008).

• Networking: A network was formed in March 2001 by 9 organisations; in 2004, it had grown to 30 organisations. A challenge was developing an internal management system to ensure a common vision, sharing of power and optimisation of efforts towards the agreed-upon goals.
   
• Context analysis: Research was conducted to ensure a comprehensive, grounded understanding of the goals, opportunities and constraints of the political and social environment, the players involved and their positions.
   
• Communication strategy: The coalition focused on advocacy and public awareness. A variety of advocacy methods were used to target decision-makers, including meetings, memoranda, dinner-debates, mailings, press releases, requests for endorsements of appeals, etc., all accompanied by media outreach. Awareness raising included messages displayed through flyers, advertisements, etc. based on the real cases of four women victims of violence.
   
• Arguments supporting reform: The campaign built four types of arguments around the slogan ‘Reform of the Personal Status Code is Necessary and Possible’: sociological arguments regarding societal changes and the new challenges of development; legal arguments drawn from national legislation; universal human rights arguments; and religious doctrinal arguments.