Women, Islam, and the Moroccan state: The struggle over the personal status law

Middle East Journal

Volumn 59, Issue 3, 2005, Pages 393-410

  Maddy Weitzman, Bruce ^a  

^a TEL AVIV UNIVERSITY   (Israel)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ISLAMISM; WOMENS STATUS;

AFRICA; EASTERN HEMISPHERE; MOROCCO; NORTH AFRICA; WORLD;

EID: 23344443168     PISSN: 00263141     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.3751/59.3.13     Document Type: Article

References (72)

1. For a thorough discussion of the growing manifestations of civil society in Morocco, and their limitations, see Azzedine Layachi, State, Society and Democracy in Morocco: The Limits of Associative Life (Washington, DC: Center for Contemporary Arab Studies, Georgetown University, 1998).
2. Bruce Maddy-Weitzman and Meir Litvak, "Islamism and the State in North Africa," in Revolutionaries and Reformers: Contemporary Islamist Movements in the Middle East, Barry Rubin, ed. (Albany, NY. SUNY Press, 2003), pp. 69-89;
3. Maddy-Weitzman, "Islamism, Morrocan-Style: The Ideas of Sheikh Yassine," Middle East Quarterly, Vol. X, No. 1 (Winter 2003), pp. 43-51.
4. Halim Barakat, The Arab World: Society, Culture and State (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993), p. 102.
5. Hisham Sharabi, Neo-Patriarchy: A Theory of Distorted Change in Arab Society (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988);
6. Fatima Memissi, Islam and Democracy: Fear of the Modern World (Reading, MA: Addison Wesley, 1992), pp. 13-82.
7. Remy Leveau, "The Moroccan Monarchy: A Political System in Quest of a New Equilibrium," in Middle Eastern Monarchies: The Challenge of Modernity, Joseph Kostiner, ed., (Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 2000), pp. 117-130.
8. Literally, "storehouse," or "treasury," makhzen is the traditional term for the Moroccan sultanate. Contemporary Islamist movements use the term consistently, as part of their critique of what they view as a dictatorial, and illegitimate regime. For analyses of Moroccan political trends in the 1990s, see Henry Munson, "The Elections of 1993 and Democratization in Morocco,"
9. Susan Waltz, "Interpreting Political Reform in Morocco," In the Shadow of the Sultan: Culture, Power and Politics in Morocco,
10. Rahma Bourqia and Susan Gilson Miller (eds.), Harvard Middle Eastern Monographs XXXI. Cambridge, MA: Center for Middle Eastern Studies of Harvard University, 1999), pp. 259-281, 282-305.
11. For a deeper look at Moroccan political culture, see Abdallah Hammoudi, Master and Disciple: The Cultural Foundations of Moroccan Authoritarianism (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1997).
12. For an analysis of the political system in the first decade after independence which still carries much value, see John Waterbury, The Commander of the Faithful (London: Weidenfeld and Nicholson, 1970).
13. Abdeslam Maghraoui, "De-politicization in Morocco," Journal of Democracy, Vol. 13, No. 4 (October 2002), pp, 24-32.
14. Guilain Denoeux and Abdeslam Maghraoui, "King Hasan's Strategy of Political Dualism," Middle East Policy, Vol. V, No. 4 (January 1998), pp. 104-130.
15. C.R. Pennell, Morocco Since 1830 (NY: NYU Press, 2000), p. 272.
16. Bruce Maddy-Weitzman, "Morocco," Middle East Contemporary Survey (MECS), Vol. XXIII, 1999 (Tel Aviv: The Moshe Dayan Center, 2001), pp. 429-435.
17. Bruce Maddy-Weitzman, "Population Growth and Family Planning Policies in Morocco," Asian and African Studies, Vol. 26, No. 1 (March 1992), pp. 63-79;
18. Eltigani E. Eltigani, "Changes in Family-Building Patterns in Egypt and Morocco: A Comparative Analysis," International Family Planning Perspectives, Vol. 26, No. 2 (June 2000), pp. 73-78;
19. Lori Ashford and Donna Clifton, Women of Our World, 2005, (Washington, DC: Population Reference Bureau, www.prb.org, February 2005).
20. Donna Lee Bowen, "Changing Contraceptive Mores in Morocco: Population Data, Trends, Gossip and Rumours," The Journal of North African Studies, Vol. 3, No. 4 (Winter 1998), pp. 68-90.
21. On the other hand, strong pressures and even threats often compel young women to cover their heads when walking in public. See the report on the poor neighborhood in Casablanca from where the suicide bombers against various Jewish and Western targets in the spring of 2003 originated: Isabelle Ligner, "Moroccan Women Fear Extremism," Middle East Online, May 22, 2003 (www.middle-eastonline.com/english/).
22. Doris Gray, "Moroccan Women on the Move? A Case Study of Rural Berber Women from the Middle Atlas Mountains," paper delivered at the seventh congress of the International Association of Middle East Studies, Berlin, October 2000.
23. Julie Combe, La Condition de la femme marocaine [The Condition of Moroccan Women] (Paris: L'Harmattan, 2001), pp. 130-32.
24. United Nations Development Programme, Human Development Report (March 2001) http://hdr.undp.org/reports/global/2001/en/pdf/back.pdf;
25. Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook, Morocco, http:// www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/mo.html#People
26. Combe, p. 132;
27. Women of Our World, 2005.
28. Interview with Saloua Karkiri in al-'Alam, quoted in ArabicNews.com, March 31, 2005.
29. Mounira M. Charrad, States and Women's Rights: The Making of Post-Colonial Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco (Berkeley, University of California Press, 2001), pp 159-161.
30. Alison Baker, Voices of Resistance: Oral Histories of Moroccan Women (Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 1998), pp. 63-77.
31. Although he is often criticized for having compromised on his earlier, more reformist views, a number of women's rights activists believe that al-Fasi was forced to bow to the positions of more conservative members of the commission. (Baker, p. 30.) For a piece of supporting evidence to that effect, see Charrad, States and Women's Rights, p. 167.
32. For a detailed summary of the Code, see Charrad, States and Women's Rights, pp. 161-168;
33. for its full text, and a primer on a Moroccan woman's rights and duties under it, see Fadela Sebti, "Rights of the Muslim Women in Morocco," www.techno.net.ma/femmes/e-default.htm.
34. Mernissi, Beyond the Veil: Male-Female Dynamics in Muslim Society (London: Saqi, 1985), pp. 109-110, 137-140.
35. Mounira Charrad, "State and Gender in the Maghrib," Middle East Report, No. 163 (March-April 1990), pp. 19-24,
36. quoting Germaine Tillion, The Republic of Cousins: Women's Oppression in Mediterranean Society, Q.Hoare, trans. (London: Saqi, 1983).
37. Bess Dopkeen, "Moroccan Marriages & Moudawana," Spring 2004 (unpublished).
38. Moroccan RTM TV, August 20, 1992, translated by Foreign Broadcast Information System (FBIS), Daily Report. Near East and South Asia, August 25, 1992.
39. Moroccan RTM TV, September 8, 1992, translated by FBIS, September 9, 1992.
40. Zakya Daoud, Féminisme et Politique au Maghreb: Sept déennies de lutte [Feminism and Politics in the Maghrib: Seven Decades of Struggle] (Casablanca: Editions Eddif, 1996), p. 344.
41. The actual number of polygamous marriages is very small. For example, in the Rabat region, 200 requests were made in 1999, with 150 being approved.
42. Laurie A. Brand, Women, the State and Political Liberalization (NY. Columbia UP, 1998), pp. 69-78;
43. Valentine M. Moghadam, "Women and Citizenship: Reflections on the Middle East and North Africa," Civil Society, April 1999, pp. 9-15;
44. Fadela Sebti, "Shopkeeper," entry in "Rights of the Muslim Women in Morocco."
45. The complete text of the plan can be found at www.maghreb-ddh.sgdg.org/ asdhom/plan.html.
46. Al-Hayat, June 1, 1999;
47. Libération, June 25, 1999;
48. Ha'aretz, August 26, 1999.
49. Maroc Hebdo International, July 2, 1999.
50. Al-Tajdid, November 10, 1999;
51. Tony Hodges, The Roots of a Desert War (Westport CT: Lawrence Hill & Co., 1983);
52. John Damis, Conflict in Northwest Africa: The Western Sahara Dispute (Palo Alto, CA: Hoover Institution Press, 1983).
53. Speech by King Muhammad VI to Parliament on October 10, 2003. http:// www.mincom.gov.ma/english/generalities/speech/2003/ ParliamentFallSession101003.htm.
54. October 10, 2003 speech. http://www.mincom.gov.ma/english/generalities/ speech/2003/ParliamentFallSession101003.htm.
55. October 10, 2003 speech. http://www.mincom.gov.ma/english/generalities/ speech/2003/ParliamentFallSession101003.htm.
56. L'Economiste, October 13, 2003.
57. MoroccoTimes.com, March 8, 2005.
58. Jeune Afrique/L'Intelligent, March 21, 2000.
59. Charrad, States and Women's Rights, p. 168.
60. The most important work on the history of feminism in the Maghrib states is that of Zakya Daoud, Féminisme et Politique au Maghreb.
61. Liat Kozma, "Women Writing History: Feminism and Social Change in Morocco," Occasional Papers, No. 130 (Tel Aviv: The Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies, 2003) (in Hebrew);
62. and Kozma, "Remembrance of Things Past: Leila Abouzeid and Moroccan National History," Social Politics, Vol. 6, No. 3 (Fall 1999), pp. 388-406.
63. Dale F. Eickelman, "The Coming Transformation Of The Muslim World" (Philadelphia, PA: Foreign Policy Research Institute) WIRE, Vol. 7, No. 9, August 1999;
64. http://fpri.org/fpriwire/0709.199908.eickelman.muslimtransform.html.
65. Al-'Alam, March 14, 2000.
66. Al-Wasat, March 13, 2000.
67. Mernissi limits her definition of ijtihad to "private initiative," on the basis of 'aql (reason) and ra'y (individual judgement or opinion). By implication, this would remove ijtihad from the exclusive domain of the 'ulama'. (Mernissi, Islam and Democracy: Fear of the Modern World, pp. 18-19).
68. M.E. Combs-Schilling, Sacred Performances: Islam, Sexuality and Sacrifice (NY: Columbia University Press, 1989);
69. and Combs-Schilling, "Performing Monarchy, Staging Nation," in In the Shadow of the Sultan, Bourqia and Miller, eds., pp. 197-198.
70. Combs-Schilling, "Performing Monarchy, Staging Nation," pp. 197-198.
71. Moroccan RTM TV, August 20-BBC Monitoring Middle East-Political, August 21, 1999. His grandfather and father had spoken in a similar vein (Daoud, p. 342).
72. Benjamin Stora, "New Challenges in the Maghreb," lecture delivered at the Moshe Dayan Center, Tel Aviv University, May 29, 2003.