Via Lucianne:
THE Moroccan Senate today unanimously adopted a new family code which puts women on a more equal footing with their husbands, notably raising the age at which girls can legally marry from 15 to 18 and giving wives "joint responsibility" with their husbands in family matters. Approval by the Senate means the Bill - which also says polygamy can only be practised under highly restrictive conditions and makes it more difficult for men to divorce their wives - can now become law.
The revised code, which its prime mover King Mohammed VI has stressed is in line with the tenets of Islam, replaces a family code that women’s groups said treated Moroccan women as perpetual minors, under the authority of men. The new code underlines the principle of "equality of rights and duties" within the married couple and abandons the principle of the "wife’s obedience to her husband".... All of Morocco’s political parties, including the Islamic Justice and Development Party (PJD), welcomed the king’s proposals to revise the family code, with some calling it a "revolution". Morocco’s leading Islamist association, Al Adl Wal Ihssane, said the changes to the code brought it closer "to a certain idea of justice within the family". |