Progress Amid Resistance

314 WOMEN’S RIGHTS IN THE MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICAnetworks are getting stronger despite restrictive social norms. Womenare increasingly taking up national and local political posts and becomingmore involved with the judiciary. Most recently, a 12 percent quotafor women was applied to the June 2009 local elections, substantiallyincreasing female political representation.Women’s rights groups and individual activists have collaborated withthe government to improve the rights of all women, but true equality re -mains a distant goal. While the recent legal reforms have allowed the governmentto promote a modern and democratic image of Morocco at theinternational level, bringing certain benefits to society at large, more needsto be done to translate these changes into tangible gains for individualwomen in their daily lives.NONDISCRIMINATION AND ACCESS TO JUSTICEIt is at the level of the law that Moroccan women’s rights have achieved themost significant gains, and the last five years have been particularly rich inthis regard. A revised nationality code passed in 2007 eased women’s abilityto pass citizenship to their children, the country lifted its reservations toCEDAW in 2008, and the Moudawana enacted in 2004 is now consideredone of the most progressive legal texts in the Arab world. However, theimplementation of that law is still problematic, and little headway is beingmade despite the sustained efforts of both women’s rights activists and thegovernment.According to Article 5 of the 1996 constitution, “all Moroccan citizensshall be equal before the law.” 5 Although the constitution does not specificallyprohibit gender-based discrimination, as a practical matter Morocco’slaws have become more attentive to the needs of female citizens in recentyears. Even so, social and cultural constraints, as well as a certain reluctanceto fully implement the laws, have yet to be overcome.Thanks in part to the efforts of women’s groups, particularly the Democratic Association of Moroccan Women, a new nationality code waspassed in January 2007, thereby improving gender equality with respect tocitizenship rights. Article 7 of the new law, which came into force in April2008, enables women married to noncitizen men to pass their nationalityto their children. However, the only children eligible for citizenship underthis provision are those of a Moroccan woman and a Muslim noncitizenman who married in accordance with the Moudawana. In practical terms,