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From Lalla Batoul to Oum Hamza: New Trends in Moroccan Women’s Fight for Citizenship

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Arab Women's Activism and Socio-Political Transformation

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Abstract

An effective technique for maintaining power is the time-honored premise of “divide and conquer.” When faced with the prospect of Arab Spring-inspired popular revolt, the Moroccan monarchy made the pre-emptive move of offering concessions on social issues while conceding little political terrain. This appeased half of the population and spared the country the turmoil and uncertainty of political instability. This chapter discusses the Moroccan monarchy’s reaction to the Arab Spring revolts, and the outcomes of this evolution. It pays special attention to the impact of these complex phenomena on women, their status, and their struggle for gender equality in Morocco.

This chapter is a version of a paper commissioned by the Tunisian branch of Heinrich Böll Stiftung Foundation in 2013. I hereby acknowledge their support and permission to publish this extended and more argued version of the article. I should also like to thank Charlie Huntington (Swarthmore College) who brought his strong editing skills to bear on the final version.Unless the source is in English, all the translations from the Arabic and the French are mine.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Apart from the extreme left parties, such as the Parti Socialiste Unifié and the Parti de l’Avant-Garde Démocratique et Social, none of the traditional parties, including al-Ittiḥād al-Ishtirākī, deemed constitutional reforms necessary. Of course, in a political arena like Morocco’s , parties are aware of the limitedness of their margin of maneuver, which makes them refrain from making demands that they have no clout to impose.

  2. 2.

    The pro-regime daily Aujourd’hui le Maroc presents statements by Hillary Clinton, Katherine Ashton, Rachida Dati, and a few others in which they eulogize Morocco’s adoption of the new constitution and underline its importance. See Aujourd’hui Le Maroc. “Réactions internationals.” Aujourd’hui le Maroc. July 4, 2011, accessed April 20, 2015. http://aujourdhui.ma/focus/reactions-internationales-77995

  3. 3.

    Ibid.

  4. 4.

    Maati Monjib,“Supplice de Lalla Batoul : Moulay Hafid au cœur du scandale,” Zamane, February (2013): 6–9.

  5. 5.

    Ibid.

  6. 6.

    El-Basha is an important political position in Morocco . The most famous Basha in the modern history of the country is probably Thami El Glaoui, the Pasha of Marrakesh during the colonial period . El Glaoui’s power was such that he played a major role in deposing King Mohamed V in 1953.

  7. 7.

    For more information about this important period of Moroccan history, see Miller, Susan Gilson. A history of modern Morocco . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013 and Bazzaz, Sahar. Forgotten Saints: History, Power, and Politics in the Making of Modern Morocco . Boston: Center for Middle Eastern Studies of Harvard University, 2010.

  8. 8.

    Monjib, “Supplice de Lalla Batoul ,” 7.

  9. 9.

    Ibid.

  10. 10.

    Ibid.

  11. 11.

    This was a critical moment for the Moroccan state. Between internal strife, owing to the Abdelaziz and Abdelhafid’s fight over power, and external incursions on Morocco’s sovereignty emanating from European powers, the Makhzan was facing serious challenges to keep its authority.

  12. 12.

    Monjib, “Supplice de Lalla Batoul ,” 6–9.

  13. 13.

    The Moroccan monarchy has developed its rhetoric regarding women’s rights over the years. Because Hassan II understood that guaranteeing the sustainability of his authority hinged upon keeping women in their traditional roles, his discourse regarding women was consistently conservative. Despite the important changes that happened during the last years of his rule, he repressed women and refused them their right to participate in political life for various reasons.

  14. 14.

    al-Fassi, Allāl. al-Naqd al-dhātī. Cairo: al-Maṭba‘et al.-‘Āllamiya, 1952.

  15. 15.

    Human Rights Watch. “World Report 2013: Morocco/Western Sahara: Events of 2012.” Human Rights Watch. Accessed May 4, 2014. http://www.hrw.org/world-report/2013/country-chapters/morocco/western-sahara?page=2

  16. 16.

    Daure-Serfaty, Christine, and Abraham Serfaty. La mémoire de l’autre. Paris: Au Vif Stock, 1993, 90.

  17. 17.

    See: Menebhi, Saïda. Poèmes, lettres, écrits de prison. Paris: Comités de lutte contre la répression au Maroc, 1978.

  18. 18.

    Allāl al-Fassi tries to distinguish between rural and urban Morocco regarding women’s rights. While Berber customs, in his understanding, fettered women in rural areas, women’s rights in the urban centers faced other challenges. See al-Fassi, “al-Naqd al-dhātī,” 260–264.

  19. 19.

    El Bouih, Fatna. Hadīth al-‘atama. Casablanca: Le Fennec, 2001, 44–45, 76.

  20. 20.

    Zakia Salime, “New Texts Out Now: Zakia Salime, Between Feminism and Islam: Human Rights and Sharia Law in Morocco.” Jadaliyya. November 30, 2011, accessed 20 April 2013. http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/3341/new-texts-out-now_zakia-salime-between-feminism-an%E2%80%A6

  21. 21.

    El Bouih, Hadīth al-‘atama, 15.

  22. 22.

    Ibid.

  23. 23.

    Ibid, 128.

  24. 24.

    “Présentation L’Union de l’Action Féminine.” E-Joussour. January 17, 2011, accessed April 5, 2013, http://www.e-joussour.net/node/7544

  25. 25.

    Leila Rwihi (1995) explained the importance of the socioeconomic initiatives taken by the Democratic Association of Moroccan Women : “we realized that direct action among women was important as well. Yet, there was another important work which was the pressure we were able to exert, as women, to change laws. This lobbying worked on the four levels of power: political, legislative, judiciary and the media is certainly primordial.” Accessed on April 5, 2013, http://graduateinstitute.ch/files/live/sites/iheid/files/sites/genre/shared/Genre_docs/3535_Actes1997/08_leilarh.pdf

  26. 26.

    As late as December 23, 2015, the Moroccan parliament passed a law to extend the use of the proof of marriage to another five years. While the liberal parties and NGOs denounced this law as a way which helps families to bypass the 2004 family code, which set minimum marriage age at 18, the Islamists argue that this extension is necessary to document the many marriages that families conduct without any documentation. While the documentation of marriage is a real concern to protect women’s and children’s rights, this loophole is also being used to conduct illegal marriages, which acquire legality through the proof of marriage exceptional laws. On July 9, 2014, TelQuel weekly magazine published a story in which it claimed that 35,000 marriages involving minors are conducted every year in Morocco despite Article 19 of the family code. Moreover, the magazine places the blame with family judges who validated 85 % of these marriages. See Chambost, Pauline. “Plus de 35, 000 mariages précoces par an.” TelQuel. July 9, 2014, accessed February 28, 2016. http://telquel.ma/2014/07/09/35-000-mariages-precoces-an_1408599.

  27. 27.

    Most of these reforms were already contained as suggestions or ijtihādāt in Allāl al-Fāssi’s al-Naqd al-dhātī, in which he formulates his vision of the changes that should happen to the Moroccan family and the place of women in them. Al-Fassi’s reform is well known, but it is mind boggling to see how these changes took almost 50 years to be incorporated into the family code.

  28. 28.

    Joundy, Lamia. “L’évolution du statut de la femme au Maroc.” N.d., accessed 5 April 2013. sociologos.insa-lyon.fr/.../FEMMESINGENIEURES/fr

  29. 29.

    “Mouvement du 20 Février Casablanca.” December 2, 2012, accessed March 21, 2016. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXdT19rXPos. My transcription of Oum Hamza’s speech does not take into account the stops, breathing, and elisions that are normal in an improvised oral speech.

  30. 30.

    Al-Naqd al-dhātī does explicitly state that depriving women of their rights is also linked to their ignorance and illiteracy in places where the state can normally afford to bring education.

  31. 31.

    Berriane, Yasmine, and Fadma Ait Mous. “Terres collectives et inégalités: le combat des soulaliyates.” Economia. N.d., accessed April 30, 2014. http://www.economia.ma/fr/numero-20/e-revue/terres-collectives-et-inegalites-le-combat-des-soulaliyates

  32. 32.

    Berriane and Ait Mous. “Terres collectives et inégalités: le combat des soulaliyates.”

  33. 33.

    Chalbi-Drissi, Hassania. “Le genre dans les nouvelles politiques foncières au Maroc.” Codesria. November 20, 2012, accessed April 15, 2014. http://www.codesria.org/IMG/pdf/2-Crises_agraires_Hassania_Chalbi.pdf

  34. 34.

    Berriane and Ait Mous. “Terres collectives et inégalités: le combat des soulaliyates.”

  35. 35.

    Chalbi-Drissi Hassania. “Le genre dans les nouvelles politiques foncières au Maroc.”

  36. 36.

    Royaume du Maroc. Secrétariat Général du Gouvernement. “La Constitution Edition 2011.” Royaume du Maroc. Secrétariat Général du Gouvernement. N.d., accessed May 3, 2013. http://www.sgg.gov.ma/constitution_2011_Fr.pdf

  37. 37.

    Bendourou, Omar. 2014. “Les droits de l’homme dans la constitution marocaine de 2011: débats autour de certains droits et libertés.” La Revue des droits de l’homme. Revue du Centre de recherches et d’études sur les droits fondamentaux 6 (2014). See also “La promotion des droits de l’Homme au Maroc.” Albayane. December 19, 2012, accessed May 3, 2015. http://www.albayane.press.ma/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=15009:la-promotion-des-droits-de-lhomme-au-maroc&catid=44:actualites&Itemid=118

  38. 38.

    Maghraoui, Driss. “Constitutional reforms in Morocco: between consensus and subaltern politics.” Journal of North African Studies 16, no. 4 (2011): 679–699.

  39. 39.

    Deffrennes, Marine. “Elections au Maroc: ‘15% de femmes, ce n’est. pas la parité.’” Terrafemina. November 25, 2011, accessed April 10, 2015. http://www.terrafemina.com/societe/international/articles/9011-elections-au-maroc-l-15-de-femmes-ce-nest-pas-la-parite-r.html

  40. 40.

    Ibid.

  41. 41.

    United Nations. “Report of the Working Group on the Issue of Discrimination Against Women in Law and in Practice.” United Nations. June 19, 2012, accessed April 5, 2014. http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/HRCouncil/RegularSession/Session20/A-HRC-20-28-Add1_en.pdf

  42. 42.

    This shows the existence of a double-speak when it comes to women’s rights in Morocco . Despite the draconian procedures that a cabinet formation has to go through before the appointment of the designation of the members of the government, no attention was paid to the gender disequilibrium in the nominations.

  43. 43.

    Vairel, Frédéric. “Le Maroc des années de plomb: équité et réconciliation?” Politique africaine 96, no. 4 (2004): 181–195.

  44. 44.

    An example of this is illustrated in a report by the Moroccan Ministry of Justice in 2010. According to this, the number of underage girls whom the courts allowed to proceed with their marriages increased from 29,847 to 41,098 between 2008 and 2010. Even though the new mudawwana made these marriages an exception, they seem to have become a rule in practice. It is clear that the family judges were misusing their discretionary authority to marry off underage girls (see Aufaitmaroc, 12 October 2012).

  45. 45.

    United Nations. “Concluding observations of the Committee Against Torture (Morocco).” December 21, 2011, accessed on April 5, 2014. http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cat/docs/CAT.C.MAR.CO.4_en.pdf

  46. 46.

    Basch-Harod, Heidi. “Uncertainty for the future of the Moroccan women’s movement.” Open Democracy. March 1, 2012, accessed on 10 April 2013. https://www.opendemocracy.net/5050/heidi-basch-harod/uncertainty-for-future-of-moroccan-women%E2%80%99s-movement

  47. 47.

    See Skalli Loubna. “Women and poverty in Morocco: The many faces of social exclusion.” Feminist review 69, no. 1 (2001): 73–89.

  48. 48.

    Freire, Paulo. Pedagogy of the Oppressed. Penguin Education Politics, 1996.

  49. 49.

    Nawāl Bin ‘Aysa tu‘abbi’u limasīrat 20 yulyūz bil-ḥusaima [Nawāl Bin ‘Ayssa Mobilizing for July 20th March in Alhoceima]. July 13, 2017. Accessed 13 July 2017. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bGw7Pwamt0.

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  1. Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA

    Brahim El Guabli

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  1. University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA

    Sahar Khamis

  2. University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

    Amel Mili

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El Guabli, B. (2018). From Lalla Batoul to Oum Hamza: New Trends in Moroccan Women’s Fight for Citizenship. In: Khamis, S., Mili, A. (eds) Arab Women's Activism and Socio-Political Transformation. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-60735-1_11

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