Workshop raises Moroccan men's awareness of Family Code

2009-02-02

At the Chourouk Association for Social Development offices in Fez, six couples attended a workshop on the Family Code and women's rights.

By Naoufel Cherkaoui for Magharebia in Fez—02/02/09

[Naoufel Cherkaoui] Six Moroccan couples participated in a first-of-its-kind workshop on the personal status code and women's rights.

Fez-based Chourouk Association for Social Development (CASD) held a workshop on Saturday (January 24th) to raise men's awareness about the Family Code and women's rights.

Six couples participated in the session.

"We have found that all the efforts made by civil society in the field of raising awareness of women’s rights were targeting women only, although men must also be concerned with these rights", said president of CASD Lahcen Afkir. "We wanted to deepen our effort through working with couples."

The association offers regular literacy classes and legal awareness for women. Officials from CASD said that the idea of holding a men's awareness workshop originated after some women expressed the need for raising men's understanding of the code so that they better treat their wives.

"The aim of the meeting was to raise men’s awareness, in the presence of their own wives, about women’s rights", Afkir said.

An earlier study by CASD concluded that men believe that the Family Code does not concern them.

The couples participating in the men's awareness workshop were selected at random, although they all were from lower socio-economic backgrounds. Afkir explained that "the reason is that the targeted class in our work in general is the poor class."

Still, Afkir said, disadvantaged persons are not the only ones unaware of women's rights. "For example, there are people from the educated class who are not aware of the developments of the personal status code."

This initiative is part of a general programme for increasing awareness of women’s rights, funded by the Dutch Embassy through a grant of 160,000 Moroccan dirhams.

The session was moderated by a couple affiliated with CASD. It is an example of a future wider campaign that CASD officials hope will attract a wider audience.

"The aim [of this first session] was to know what should be focused on in the awareness campaign. This is in addition to other issues that concern men, wives and children", said Afkir.

Abdelkader, one of the husbands who participated in the session on Saturday told Magharebia that he benefited from the initiative and that some of his previous assumptions have now changed.

"I used to consider the code was for women only," Abdelkader said. "I have changed the way I deal with my wife. Unlike in the past, we now have no problems."

"The literacy lessons and the legal awareness were very useful for me and changed the way I deal with my environment," said Fattouma, Abdelkader’s wife. "I have become more aware of my rights and duties. This was further boosted through the meeting which CASD organized, that made even my husband understand the Family Code."

"The success of this initiative," Afkir stated, "made us extend it over two years so that a bigger number of people may benefit from it."