The impression that Islam supports the dehumanization of women has been debunked by one hundred Moroccan intellectuals. They have signed a petition demanding that the country’s sexist inheritance rule be repealed. They say that the rule, referred to as Ta’sib, is a fairly progressive document that fell short of tackling the issue of property inheritance for women.
Men are economically privileged and have access to property, land, industry and commerce. Women, meanwhile, are left on the margins. The Moroccan intellectuals worry that a female cannot even benefit from her rightful inheritance when a father, brother or husband dies.
The struggle for gender equality in the North African nation has been growing over the past few years. Morocco’s Constitution, which was amended in 2011, stressed equality between the sexes as a priority. But conservative segments of the society, which use a patriarchal reading of the Muslim holy book, the Qur’an, have disrupted moves that would allow women to benefit from inheritance.
In Morocco, as in other countries in the Maghreb like Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Mauritania, unlocking patriarchy and oppression may take years of debate and social democracy. The region’s economic, social and political development has been constantly hindered by social injustice. Its progress depends on women taking on a larger role in the economy.
But times are changing. Today more than a third of Moroccan households are headed by women or rely largely on contributions by women to their income. That raises the hope that the fresh move by the group of intellectuals will succeed.
