Morocco Debates Women’s Inheritance Rights Amid Family Code Reform

Although the 2011 Moroccan Constitution enshrined the principle of equality between men and women, the reality is quite different when it comes to inheritance. The Justice and Development Party (PJD) is the first to oppose this reform project. At the end of February, the Islamist party described these demands for equality as "perilous development", considering that they constitute a "threat to national stability" and could "weaken one of the pillars of social and family peace", reports the Belgian newspaper Le Soir.

"Despite theological readings that tend towards full equity in inheritance, the rule that a man receives double the share of a woman in succession continues to be considered sacred in Morocco," says lawyer Ghizlaine Mamouni. But the rule of ta’sib, an inheritance by agnation (kinship through males) is the most criticized. According to this rule provided for in the Family Code, the closest relatives (brothers and first cousins) of a deceased who has no sons become his heirs. "Ta’sib does not have its source in the Quran, but in certain specific currents of Islamic fiqh (jurisprudence, ed.)," continues the lawyer and president of the association Kif Baba Kif Mama.

And she adds: "It was justified by the fact that at a certain time, only men had obligations and responsibilities in caring for the family." But society has evolved a lot. According to the High Commission for Planning (HCP), 16.7% of households were headed by women in 2020. Ta’sib is an "outdated" and "incompatible with the new social realities" rule, cuts short former minister Nouzha Skalli who denounces this "particularly blatant injustice". For her, this provision penalizes women, "and especially the most precarious" who find themselves "driven out of their home or deprived of their property in favor of people they sometimes don’t even know".

In his Throne speech delivered at the end of July 2022, King Mohammed VI paved the way for a comprehensive revision of the Penal Code and the Family Code (Moudawana) already revised in 2004, to establish more equality between men and women. But politically, the "lack of courage" on this issue makes Ghizlaine Mamouni pessimistic, "Political parties seem to be waiting for a royal arbitration on the moudawana, through the establishment, as in 2004, of a royal commission. But waiting is to leave even longer women and children living in situations of precariousness and injustice," she laments.