First Independent Mena Newspaper
United States First Lady Jill Biden has commended the leadership of King Mohammed VI to empower women and youth. “Under His Majesty King Mohammed the Sixth’s leadership, Morocco is encouraging reforms to empower women and youth, reflecting our shared priorities”, said Mrs Biden in a statement issued Sunday by the White House. The United States […]
Bank Al Maghrib, Morocco’s central Bank, and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) have agreed to bolster their cooperation to enhance women’s access to financing. Under the agreement inked on Monday in Rabat, Bank Al Maghrib will benefit from IFC’s expertise and its global networks to expand women’s access to funding and support women’s entrepreneurship. The […]
As soon as a law criminalizing violence against women has entered into force this week, already three complaints were filed by women claiming to have been harassed. The law, passed last February, includes a ban on forced marriage, sexual harassment in public places, and tougher penalties for certain forms of violence. Although it has been […]
The resignation of Asma Lamrabet from the league of Moroccan Muslim scholars (Rabita Mohammedia) because of her support for equal inheritance rights between men and women sent shockwaves across the country, causing the debate over gender and inheritance in Morocco to resurface. The current Moroccan inheritance law is based on traditional Islamic jurisprudence of Ta’sib, […]
Morocco is working on new legislation enabling Moroccan women to pass nationality to their foreign spouses, said family minister Bassima Hakkaoui. “Borders should never deprive people from enjoying nationality rights,” Hakkaoui said in a recent statement to the press on the sidelines of a visit to UN Women in New York. It has been 11 […]
Morocco has made a major stride forward for the rights of women with the new law passed by the Parliament, criminalizing harassment, aggression, sexual exploitation of women or their ill-treatment. Drafted five years ago, the text was adopted with a majority vote of 112, against 55 and one abstention. It provides for harsher penalties for […]
Despite opposition from Muslim clerics, Tunisia passed a bill allowing Muslim women to marry non-Muslims in a bid to secure equal rights for Tunisia’s female population as the country forges ahead with its modernization endeavor. The bill overturned a law that required a non-Muslim man who wished to marry a Tunisian Muslim woman to convert […]
Hundreds of furious women staged mass sit-ins in Casablanca and Rabat in protest against the shocking sexual assault on a girl in a public bus in Casablanca. The distressing incident was documented in a video that went viral on Morocco’s social media reigniting a bitter debate about violence against women, especially after the recurrence of […]
Tunisians of all walks of life are divided over the issue of gender equality in inheritance rights. A controversial reform of the inheritance law unveiled in this regard by President Beji Caid Essebsi and backed by the mufti of Tunisia has sparked fierce and endless debates between conservatives and liberals. Islamic (sharia) law generally gives […]
The newly formed Moroccan government has unveiled its 2017-2021 plan as a continuation of the “reforms” launched by the previous government notably in terms of boosting advanced regionalization, promoting employment and social cohesion and consolidating Morocco’s international influence as well as safeguarding the country’s democratic choice. In his first address as head of government before […]