Cablegate: Women's Rights in Morocco: A Model for The
VZCZCXRO9494
PP RUEHBC RUEHDE RUEHDH RUEHKUK RUEHROV RUEHTRO
DE RUEHCL #0194/01 2870918
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 140918Z OCT 09
FM AMCONSUL CASABLANCA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 8536
INFO RUEHRB/AMEMBASSY RABAT 8684
RUEHEE/ARAB LEAGUE COLLECTIVE
RUCNMGH/MAGHREB COLLECTIVE
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 CASABLANCA 000194
SIPDIS
SENSITIVE
STATE FOR NEA, DRL/NESCA, NEA/PI AND NEA/MAG
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PHUM SOCI KWMN MO
SUBJECT: WOMEN'S RIGHTS IN MOROCCO: A MODEL FOR THE
ARAB WORLD?
REF: A. 07 RABAT 1869
B. 08 CASABLANCA 0232
C. 08 RABAT 1150
D. 09 CASABLANCA 0166
E. 09 RABAT 0604
F. 08 CASABLANCA 0222
1. (SBU) SUMMARY: In the last decade Morocco,
under the leadership of King Mohammed VI, has
implemented a wide variety of social and economic
reforms with the aim of modernizing the country.
One the areas where this has been the most apparent
is in the advancement of women's rights. This
progress is most clearly illustrated through the
judicial reforms to the Family Code in 2004 and
updates to the nationality and labor laws, support
for women in the business world, extending roles to
women in the religious and social sphere through the
"mourchidat" or female imam program, and lastly by
the government-mandated increase in women's
representation among elected officials. Morocco's
reforms to women's rights are generally ahead of the
rest of the Arab world and serve as a potential
model for their development. While Morocco has a
strong civil society and women's movement that
continues to advocate for better implementation and
more comprehensive reform, well-placed U.S.
government assistance could cement these gains. END
SUMMARY.
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Judicial Reforms: The Family Code
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2. (SBU) Morocco took its most significant step
forward for women's rights when it revised its
Family Code or "Moudawana" in 2004. The King used
his secular and religious authority to break the
logjam of resistance from conservative and religious
elements in society and pass the reforms. Foremost,
the Moudawana eliminated the legal concept of male
"guardianship" over women, which treated women as
legal minors unable to execute marriage contracts on
their own. It removed a legal requirement for women
to obey their husbands. It raised the legal age of
marriage to 18 and required all underage marriages
be approved by a judge with the aim of decreasing
the number of "child brides" and minor girls forced
into marriage. It created obstacles to polygamy by
requiring a husband to obtain permission from both
the first wife and to demonstrate to a judge an
"exceptional" reason (such as infertility) to
justify the second marriage. The Moudawana outlawed
divorce by repudiation (a husband declaring divorce
to his wife three times) and required that all
divorce procedures be handled by a judge. It also
expanded the definitions of divorce to include a no-
fault divorce that could be instigated by a woman
without forfeiting a right to her dowry. In cases
of divorce it granted greater rights in the
separation of goods and gave women the right to
remain in the conjugal home if they have
guardianship of the children. Especially important
for women in marginalized rural areas, it created a
five-year grace period during which women could come
forward and register their marriages with the
government.
3. (SBU) In addition to the Family Code there were
other equally important judicial reforms that have
significantly impacted women. In January 2007, the
Government of Morocco (GOM) reformed the 1958
Nationality Code giving Moroccan women married to
non-Moroccans the right to pass nationality to their
children as long as the couple is Muslim and the
marriage recognized by the state (Ref A). The Labor
Code, revised in 2004, included the creation of the
country's first statues outlawing sexual harassment.
The GOM has also taken steps towards passing
legislation to address violence against women though
it has yet come to fruition (Ref B). Finally, in
December 2008, in a largely symbolic but important
step, the King announced Morocco's withdrawal of all
of its remaining reservations to the Convention on
the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
against Women (CEDAW) on the grounds that Moroccan
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legislation was now fully compliant (Ref C).
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Impediments and Shortcomings
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4. (SBU) While Morocco's progress is formidable,
women's rights groups and non-governmental
organizations (NGOs) are critical of the GOM's
failure to fully implement the law and to educate
women and government officials about the reforms. A
2008 report issued by the Democratic League for
Women's Rights (LDDF), a NGO, found that corruption
and the conservative prejudices of judges had led to
numerous approvals for underage marriages and
polygamy (Ref F). These groups also note that the
GOM has taken insufficient steps to tackle the low
levels of education among women especially in rural
areas, noting that two of every five women over the
age of 15 are illiterate in Morocco. They also
believe that additional legal reforms are needed,
including a comprehensive law outlawing violence
against women and more equitable inheritance laws.
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Women in Islam: The Mourchidat
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5. (SBU) In February 2006, as part of a campaign to
counter extremism and bolster Morocco's moderate
vision of Islam, the GOM graduated its first class
of 50 Mourchidat or female clerics. The Mourchidat
are spiritual guides who have trained for one year,
like their male colleagues, and who give guidance
and religious instruction in the mosques, though
they do not lead prayers (Ref A). The Mourchidat
have also played an important role as social workers
by expanding their field of work to include female
beneficiaries in prisons, orphanages, hospitals and
schools, as well as the mosques.
6. (SBU) Fatima Zohra Salhi, a Mourchidat, told NEA
Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary Madelyn Spirnak at
a recent meeting in Casablanca that the demand for
the Mourchidat's services was enormous. Although
the Ministry of Endowments and Islamic Affairs has
graduated an additional 150 Mourchidat, Fatima said
that the communities were well aware of the program
and repeatedly asked them for assistance. Mohammed
Echouiabi, head of the Mourchidat program, also told
A/DAS Spirnak that other Arab countries including
Egypt, Tunis, and Jordan have requested information
on the Mourchidat program and were exploring the
possibility of replicating the model in their
countries.
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Women in Business
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7. (SBU) Morocco's expansion of women's rights and
encouragement of full equality before the law has
positively altered the business climate for women in
Morocco. The Moroccan Association of Women
Entrepreneurs estimates that more than 5,000 female
entrepreneurs operate in the country's formal
economy and nearly 2.7 million women are part of the
work force (Ref D). While obstacles do exist for
women in the workforce, including lower education
levels and conservative social norms, women in
Morocco, especially the educated urban elite, play
an important role in the country's economic life.
As Salwa Akhannouch, the CEO of Zara in Morocco,
recently told a newspaper, "While some social norms
occasionally dampen female entrepreneurship, gender
discrimination does not constitute a major obstacle
for women entrepreneurs in Morocco."
8. (SBU) October 7, Consul General Millard hosted a
dinner in honor of DAS Spirnak for Moroccan women
leaders to discuss women's issues and the challenges
that still remain. One participant, Nabila Fridji,
a businesswoman, explaining how her life had been
fundamentally changed by her participation in a
Middle East Partnership Initiative- (MEPI-)funded
program for women entrepreneurs, stressed the
CASABLANCA 00000194 003 OF 003
importance of MEPI continuing to foster and
encourage a MENA network of alumni.
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Women in Politics
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9. (SBU) In the lead up to the 2009 municipal
elections, King Mohammed VI took the radical step of
mandating that 12 percent of all seats would be
reserved for women. Prior to this most recent
election, women constituted less than .34 percent of
all local elected officials (Ref E). Overnight the
Kingdom witnessed a twenty-five fold increase
whereby women won more than 3,400 seats on local and
rural councilsQIn addition, women won seats as the
head of their parties' lists and not only on the
specially created women's lists. In another
encouraging sign, Fatima Zohra Mansouri, a young
U.S.-educated woman, was elected Mayor of Marrakech,
the second woman elected to head a major city in
Morocco.
10. (SBU) While the GOM has had numerous female
ministers and parliamentarians, the massive number
of women recently elected to local positions will
have a profound grassroots effect on the way that
women participate in Moroccan political life.
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Comment
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11. (SBU) So far Morocco has successfully
found a way to achieve an impressive catalog of
advancement to women's rights despite the pressures
of religious and conservative elements in the
society. Some of the reforms, especially the
Mourchidat, family code and quota revisions, could
potentially be models for similar reforms in other
Arab countries. The USG should consider using MEPI
and other funding to create more regional networks
that would encourage both civil society and
government representatives of other Arab countries
to learn from and perhaps emulate the example of
Morocco.
MILLARD