Morocco Considers Gender-Neutral Alimony Law in Divorce Cases

Ouahbi reiterated his desire to promote "true parity" between men and women. In an interview on the Moroccan channel 2M on Monday, the minister hinted that women with higher incomes in the couple should pay alimony or Nafaqa to their husband in the event of divorce.

"When the woman requests the divorce, she must have all her rights. To do this, we must know what the man possesses and what the woman also possesses because the financial responsibility is shared," Ouahbi said, in response to a question about the measures he intends to take, in collaboration with Bank Al-Maghrib (BAM), against men who do not pay alimony to their wives after divorce.

He added: "When we have a precise idea of the financial situation of the man and the woman, we will be able to determine who is the aggrieved party and who will compensate the other. If the woman’s income is higher than the man’s, she will have to pay the Nafaka to her ex-spouse." For the Minister of Justice, the shared financial responsibility during marriage is also valid after divorce.

Ouahbi also announced that his department "is examining this point," stressing the need to have "a certain balance and a kind of justice or equity." "If we don’t have this balance, we won’t have true economic and social parity [...] ," added the minister. If the measure were to be introduced into the Moudawana (Family Code), based on Islamic sharia, it would cause a cataclysm in the Moroccan legal and social order.