morocco
· The traditional culture is conservative, patriarchal and religious practices play a prominent role in society
· Traditional view of women: dedication to her family and husband, little role in society outside of domestic affairs, forced to be very dependent and have been limited politically and economically
· Even though there are compulsory education laws, open admissions policies and free education they have barriers in the school administration, home, marketplace and society in general that make receiving an education very difficult.
· Two-thirds of women are illiterate in the country and illiteracy rates are even higher in rural areas because they are poorer and cannot implement compulsory education laws there.
· Expected to become a wife, education threatens her likely-hood of marrying because she may be thought unsuitable; anything beyond basic literacy may reduce the probability of her marrying.
· with the increase in women’s education seen in Morocco population growth rate has declined as women are bearing fewer children and the marrying age has increased
· increase in female literacy and this is in parallel to a drop in the rate of population growth, average woman now bearing approximately three children in her lifetime, less than half from 30 years ago, and drop in the average marrying age, now 25-26, up from 17 in earlier decades.
· The new constitution promotes democracy, modernization and enhanced civil rights.
· Awareness of their rights and conditions and are demanding equality in the family and society
· The United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which include goals for improved education, gender equality, and women’s empowerment, should be incorporated into national development plans
· Family Code with intention to remove all reservations to CEDAW(Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women) .
· Obsticle: primary responsibility for caretaking in the home, parents placed little value on their education and did not allow them to attend school because they were “only destined for marriage and motherhood.” Child labor with girls under fifteen working as child maids, working in the textile industry, or apprenticing in traditional arts and crafts. Dropout rate of girls at the secondary school level at 50% in urban areas and 89% in rural areas is a direct contributing factor to adult female illiteracy.
· The New Muslim Personal Status Law in Morocco will see polygamy almost completely eradicated from the north African country.
· The changes to the "mudawana" family code make polygamy acceptable only in rare circumstances, and only with the permission of a judge and a man's first wife. They also raise the age of marriage for girls from 15 to 18 and give wives "joint responsibility"with their husbands in family matters.
· Women's rights activists in Morocco have welcomed plans to change an article of the penal code that allows rapists of underage girls to avoid prosecution by marrying their victims.
· Morocco's penal code criminalises rape and sexual acts with a minor "without violence".
· The second clause of the article specifies that when the victim marries the perpetrator, "he can no longer be prosecuted except by persons empowered to demand the annulment of the marriage and then only after the annulment has been proclaimed". This effectively prevents prosecutors from independently pursuing rape charges.
http://www.yale.edu/macmillan/africadissent/moha.pdf
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-21169923
http://www.genderacrossborders.com/2011/03/28/women-and-education-in-morocco/
http://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2012/01/22310/gender-roles-in-morocco-is-it-the-decline-of-patriarchy-and-the-rise-of-matriarchy/
· Traditional view of women: dedication to her family and husband, little role in society outside of domestic affairs, forced to be very dependent and have been limited politically and economically
· Even though there are compulsory education laws, open admissions policies and free education they have barriers in the school administration, home, marketplace and society in general that make receiving an education very difficult.
· Two-thirds of women are illiterate in the country and illiteracy rates are even higher in rural areas because they are poorer and cannot implement compulsory education laws there.
· Expected to become a wife, education threatens her likely-hood of marrying because she may be thought unsuitable; anything beyond basic literacy may reduce the probability of her marrying.
· with the increase in women’s education seen in Morocco population growth rate has declined as women are bearing fewer children and the marrying age has increased
· increase in female literacy and this is in parallel to a drop in the rate of population growth, average woman now bearing approximately three children in her lifetime, less than half from 30 years ago, and drop in the average marrying age, now 25-26, up from 17 in earlier decades.
· The new constitution promotes democracy, modernization and enhanced civil rights.
· Awareness of their rights and conditions and are demanding equality in the family and society
· The United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which include goals for improved education, gender equality, and women’s empowerment, should be incorporated into national development plans
· Family Code with intention to remove all reservations to CEDAW(Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women) .
· Obsticle: primary responsibility for caretaking in the home, parents placed little value on their education and did not allow them to attend school because they were “only destined for marriage and motherhood.” Child labor with girls under fifteen working as child maids, working in the textile industry, or apprenticing in traditional arts and crafts. Dropout rate of girls at the secondary school level at 50% in urban areas and 89% in rural areas is a direct contributing factor to adult female illiteracy.
· The New Muslim Personal Status Law in Morocco will see polygamy almost completely eradicated from the north African country.
· The changes to the "mudawana" family code make polygamy acceptable only in rare circumstances, and only with the permission of a judge and a man's first wife. They also raise the age of marriage for girls from 15 to 18 and give wives "joint responsibility"with their husbands in family matters.
· Women's rights activists in Morocco have welcomed plans to change an article of the penal code that allows rapists of underage girls to avoid prosecution by marrying their victims.
· Morocco's penal code criminalises rape and sexual acts with a minor "without violence".
· The second clause of the article specifies that when the victim marries the perpetrator, "he can no longer be prosecuted except by persons empowered to demand the annulment of the marriage and then only after the annulment has been proclaimed". This effectively prevents prosecutors from independently pursuing rape charges.
http://www.yale.edu/macmillan/africadissent/moha.pdf
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-21169923
http://www.genderacrossborders.com/2011/03/28/women-and-education-in-morocco/
http://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2012/01/22310/gender-roles-in-morocco-is-it-the-decline-of-patriarchy-and-the-rise-of-matriarchy/