Morocco considers reforming rules which limit mother's rights

Morocco is in the process of reviewing its family code - a system of laws that has been criticised for repressing women, including by restricting their legal relationship with their own children. 

September 26, King Mohammed VI instructed the government to create a commission to reform the code. The decision sparked hope among activists hoping for greater gender equality in the country but concern among conservatives. 

The last reform in 2004, known as Moudawana, was a “quiet revolution” for human rights and gender equality, Moroccan Politician Mohamed Ouzzine said in March of 2023. The reform set the minimum age of marriage for women to 18, restricted polygamy, removed degrading language describing women in the family code, and gave women the right to initiate divorce procedures. 

However, almost 20 years after its adoption, the family code remains rife with legal loopholes that give disproportionately more rights to men, according to NGOs.

The calls to reform the family code gained significant momentum in 2023, as human rights activists rallied in support of a Moroccan actress and a mother.

Jamila El Haouni claims she has been struggling for years with her ex-husband to allow their son to study in a prestigious private school, and more recently, to travel abroad to visit a European football club where he was invited to play a friendly match. Under existing laws, only fathers hold legal custody over children - whether in marriage or after divorce.

Cases of fathers using children to exercise pressure on their ex-wives are of no surprise to lawyers in Morocco. The new reform should “address cases where children are traded in court,” Mohammed Azaroual, a lawyer based in the capital Rabat told Global South World.

“The issue of child custody should be revised,” he said. “Before awarding legal custody to the father, he should be capable of providing psychological, material, and social support, and consultation with psychologists is advised. The same applies to the mother.”

For Azaroual, the current law “is far from safeguarding the Moroccan family from societal shocks in matters of marriage, legal guardianship, inheritance, divorce, and other issues.”

Another crucial issue that is central to the public debate on family code reform is the question of child marriage. The 2004 Moudawana allows underage marriages under “special circumstances,” discretionary authority to the judge.

The provision has long angered human rights activists who demanded stronger laws to protect children. In May of 2022, Justice Minister Abdellatif Ouahbi revealed alarming data on underage marriage in the country, saying that it jumped from 12,000 cases in 2020 to 19,000 in 2021.

Despite the apparent political will from policymakers and activists, the road to reforms is not without challenges. The 2004 changes met with a backlash from Morocco’s more conservative population who considered it as deviating from Sharia law rulings. The current reform is not likely to proceed without challenges, as several prominent online pages are already sounding the alarm over the perceived threat to “Moroccan societal values.”

Despite the anticipated backlash, activists are confident that change is coming for women, they are only hoping it will come soon. “It would be a shame to wait for yet another 20 years for another timid revision,” Moroccan Feminist activist and writer, Fedwa Misk cautioned.