Marrakech, Morocco
Halima Oulami was just twenty-three years old when King Hassan II, who presided over Morocco with an iron fist for thirty-eight years, died in 1999, and his reform-minded son, King Muhammed VI, ascended to the throne. Oulami recalls a powerful sense of hope that the leadership transition would bring real change. Five years later, in 2004, at last bowing to a national campaign by women’s rights organizations, the King and parliament significantly reformed the Moudawana, or Family Code, to end most sex-based discrimination in the laws governing marriage, divorce, and inheritance.
Prior to the reforms, the law rendered women legal minors—regardless of their age—with men as their guardians in matters large and small. Before the changes, men could verbally divorce their wives and seize all marital possessions. Women who were abandoned or divorced had little legal recourse and almost no financial options. The Moudawana reforms place the family under the joint responsibility of both spouses, rescind a wife's legal duty of obedience to her husband, increase the marriage age for women from fifteen to eighteen, establish women’s right to seek divorce, require that divorces take place in court and with the presence of the wife, and place strict limitations on the practice of polygamy. These changes to the Moudawana are a stunning victory two decades in the making.
In the campaign to enact the reforms, Oulami served on the frontlines, collecting thousands of signatures, running local “listening centers” to gather women’s stories, and debating opponents. Oulami now focuses her considerable energy on ensuring that these new reforms translate into real change in the lives of Moroccan women. Oulami’s organization, El Amane Association for Women’s Development, provides rights education and operates support centers to serve Morocco’s most vulnerable populations: poor women, single mothers, sex workers and child servants. El Amane educates women about their rights and how to defend them, facilitates direct access to the legal system, and works with other human rights organizations to inform policymakers about continuing violations of women’s rights.
The obstacles to this work are significant: officials from the old-guard, including some judges, have tried to block enforcement or refused to recognize the changes; others simply haven’t heard about them. For example, although courts, hospitals, and police stations are supposed to have women’s offices to help women navigate the legal system, these offices exist only where women’s rights groups, like El Amane, have demanded them. But, Oulami says, perceptions are changing. Some officials are grudgingly starting to work with Oulami and her group to implement the law. Reaching women in the rural areas is a particular challenge: they live in relative isolation and in communities typically controlled by those who resist such change. El Amane has expanded its training programs to reach more women in areas outside of Marrakech. El Amane organizes a civic awareness caravan which meets in women-only groups—of mostly poor, illiterate farmers and housewives—and disseminates usable human rights information in a safe space.
Through their education and outreach, El Amane is bringing real options to women in Morocco. This year, Jamila, a thirty-five-year-old housewife with a seven-year-old son, came to an El Amane support center. She heard about El Amane by word of mouth—a woman she had confided in about the frequent beatings at the hands of her husband urged her to visit Oulami’s group. El Amane’s staff explained to her what her rights were and how to use them. Then, with legal assistance from El Amane and help from the local court’s women’s office, Jamila filed for divorce and obtained a pension to support her son. Jamila now works with El Amane’s women’s cooperative to support herself and her son.
The Fund for Global Human Rights is one of El Amane’s largest donors, providing general support funding that gives the organization the flexibility to choose its own direction in pushing for real change for women in Morocco.
