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. 
 
--------------------------------- 
Judicial Reforms: The Family Code 
--------------------------------- 
 
¶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 
 
CASABLANCA 00000194  002 OF 003 
 
 
legislation was now fully compliant (Ref C). 
 
---------------------------- 
Impediments and Shortcomings 
---------------------------- 
 
¶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. 
 
------------------------------ 
Women in Islam: The Mourchidat 
------------------------------ 
 
¶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. 
 
----------------- 
Women in Business 
----------------- 
 
¶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. 
 
----------------- 
Women in Politics 
----------------- 
 
¶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. 
 
------- 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶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