
As a result, over the past two decades, Moroccan women have fought for and won the right to divorce and the right to be the equals of men under the law. Morocco has women in top positions. They are ministers or Members of Parliament (MPs) and participate in major decisions. We managed to create a lobby of women MPs to support women’s rights, including the revision of discriminatory laws and the proposal of a quota to ensure women’s access to elected offices. Great progress has been made; and today, Morocco is hailed as one of the most progressive Muslim countries in the Middle East and North Africa on women’s issues. It is true that obstacles persist, including resistance from people whose mentality has not yet changed. Last month, for example, the women’s and human rights community was deeply disappointed when Morocco’s parliament passed a women’s rights bill that – despite years of demands from NGOs and activists — failed to criminalize marital rape, among other shortcomings. The social, political, and economic rights of Moroccan women still have not been fully realized. But we cannot give up and say that it’s over. We are and must continue to be vigilant. As an example, we are continuing to lobby parliament to bring amendments to the bill to fight against violence against women. As women, we do not have a day of rest, a moment of relief, in our struggle for equality; our fight for fairness and freedom goes on, day in and day out. Some battles are won, and some are lost, but we continue. I have made the fight for the rights of women my life. Every day, every moment, wherever I am, I fight for women to be free. And when a battered woman wins her case in court; when a woman who has come to you in the past in desperate straits calls to tell you that the judge has sentenced her abusive husband to prison—the rewards are worth the fight.
Source: Moroccan Women Continue the Fight for Rights | wnn interviews global
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