Mudawana - The Mudawana in Modern Morocco

The Mudawana in Modern Morocco

Historically, the creation of the Mudawana in Moroccan law represented a major step in the political and legal unification of Morocco after it gained independence from the French. Its first version was written in 1957-8 by a group of ten male religious scholars (Ulama) working under the auspices of the monarchy; its substance drew heavily on classical Maliki law. As the French had ruled Morocco with a policy of legal pluralism (maintaining, for example, the existence of Berber customary law within Berber communities), the new Mudawana was intended to signify the nation’s unity, Islamic identity, and modernity. It did this in part by codifying the system of existing patriarchal, kin-based social structures within the newly independent state. In addition, the Mudawana is the only section of Moroccan law that relies primarily on Islamic sources, rather than Spanish or French civil codes, which gave it a greater sense of immutability and contributed to the difficulty of reforming it later on. A state's family or personal status law has wide-ranging implications for citizens' daily lives, but many gender equality advocates point out its particular significance for women, as it governs the age at which they may be married, issues of divorce and child custody, and their right to work and travel outside the home. Even as various Muslim-majority states have expanded public civil and political rights for women, separate family laws rooted in Shari'a have often remained unchanged; for many Muslims, these family laws remain an untouchable symbol of Muslim identity.