A Century of Women's Rights in the MENA: Where Have the Men Gone?
Panel 043, sponsored byAmerican Institute for Maghrib Studies (AIMS), 2015 Annual Meeting
On Sunday, November 22 at 11:00 am
Panel Description
Academic and non-academic literature dealing with the issue of women's rights in the MENA region is extensive, but very rarely does it engage with masculinities or incorporate men's voices in the analysis of the situation of women and men in the region. If anything, men and masculinities are treated as the main obstacle to women's emancipation. This panel is an attempt to revisit the discourse on the 'battle of sexes' and offer an alternative understanding of North African masculinities and the position of men within families and vis-s-vis women's rights and women's emancipation.
The first presentation analyzes the role of the military in the emancipation of Moroccan women and argues that contrary to widespread beliefs military fathers have been instrumental in the education and emancipation of a select segment of Moroccan women from marginalized groups, many of whom have as a result become vocal feminists and leading advocates of women's rights reforms. The second contribution examines the new roles ascribed to men as part of the changing women's rights and gender equality discourse and offers an appreciation of their struggle with a new masculine identity. The third paper continues with the discussion of masculinities in flux by looking at the reasons behind men's negative attitudes towards Family Law reforms in Morocco. Rather than dismissing their opinions as misogynist, this paper looks at the increasing demands placed on men by their families, society, and law on the one hand and the neoliberal state curtailing their rights and abilities to fulfil these expectations on the other. The fourth paper expands on the main argument of the panel - that a new understanding (and appreciation) of Muslim masculinities is needed, one which does not deny men a voice in the emancipation of society. This paper rounds up the panel by offering a comparative analysis of the effects of Egyptian and Moroccan legal reforms on the legal and societal constructions of motherhood and fatherhood, as well as offers answers to scarcely researched questions of how men interact with the reformed divorce law and how judges, both female and male, dispense justice.
Based on extensive ethnographic research, this panel offers a unique perspective of Muslim masculinities. It argues for a re-examination of gender relations, where men and women are not necessarily in an antagonistic relationship but where both are struggling to re-invent their roles to better address the vicissitudes of living in a 21st century authoritarian state.
Legal reforms pertaining to Personal Status in Muslim-majority countries have proven to be highly politically charged affairs. Examples include vociferous debates surrounding One Million Signatures Campaigns in Iran, Morocco, and a strenuous process of first codifying Algerian Personal Status Code and then reforming it in the early 2000s. This is not only because Personal Status Codes (Family Codes) are perceived as the last remnants of the Islamic law in post-colonial MENA states and hence deeply relevant for the Muslim identity, but also because many men in particular see the reform as a zero-sum game. Most research on the reform process of Personal Status Code in Morocco (as elsewhere) focuses on the experiences of women and women’s rights, and leaves out the voices of men or treats them as women’s natural adversary and the main obstacle for their empowerment.
Based on extensive ethnographic research in provincial Morocco, this paper brings in men’s voices and looks at the reasons behind their continuing struggle against the 2004 reforms of the Personal Status Code. I argue that rather than blaming men for the lack of implementation of and cooperation with the law, the heightened women’s rights discourse leaves these men out of the conversation assuming that ‘their’ rights have already been granted by virtue of being men living in a patriarchal state and society. In my conversations with Moroccan men from economically depressed and politically marginalized areas however, they expressed the enormity of the burden of family, societal, and legal demands placed on them as breadwinners in a neoliberal state where it is increasingly harder to get lucrative jobs that could satisfy the growing expectations of their (extended) families and consumerist wives in particular.
Engaging with the marginalized male population can contribute to the understanding of the slow progress towards real change in the status of women’s rights in contemporary Muslim-majority MENA countries. Although many men will defend gender inequality as something that is god-given or a natural state of being, many also criticize the prevailing elite-driven women’s rights discourse not because of their misogynist attitudes but as a result of their disenfranchisement and economic and political marginalization. They criticize the women’s rights discourse because it does not see them as equal partners and does not offer real solutions to their own precarious situation.
Since the independence of Morocco in 1956, the military (in its broad sense, i.e. including the Mokhazni “Auxiliary Forces” and gendarmerie) have significantly contributed to the education and empowerment of generations of Moroccan women with a rural background. Often Berber, illiterate, and of rural origin, these men were/are somehow less conservative in matters of educating their daughters than many educated “urbans.” This role of the military has neither been recognized in the Moroccan feminist literature nor in the broader (social) history of modern Morocco. In an attempt to fill this gap, this paper addresses the following issues:
1. How can the military’s contribution to women’s emancipation be positioned within the larger socio-historical context of Morocco and to what extent does the movement from rural to urban areas lead to “openness” in matters of gender?
2. Why is this contribution ignored and/or marginalized and how does it help us understand some dark zones in the modern history of Morocco?
3. What does the category “feminist military fathers” mean in today’s Moroccan feminist and gender discourses?
4. How does this topic resonate with today’s young men’s growing sensitivity to gender equality?
This paper is based on 15 interviews with successful Moroccan women with military fathers, as well as on my own observations, readings, and experience as an educated feminist with a military father and a rural background.
Contemporary young Moroccan men, who feel familial, cultural and social pressure to conform to patriarchic notions of masculinities, struggle with their identity. The focus of women’s rights activism has largely been on securing rights for women, criminalizing gender-based violence, increasing political representation and enhancing educational and employment opportunities. Islamic feminism has contributed to new religious interpretations that allow for more gender equity based on feminist reading of religious texts. Accordingly, men are re-defined beyond patriarchal norms but their own contributions have largely been left out of the discourse. To date not addressed is how more gender egalitarian Muslim-majority societies in North Africa include changing masculinities. In the face of ample political conflict and acute social inequity in the region, advocacy for gender equity in Morocco for example is approached from a perspective of collaboration and a – somewhat foggy – vision of mutual benefits. The paper is based on structured interviews with NGO’s and gender rights activists, case studies and emerging literature in the field of North African masculinity studies. The paper examines small-scale women-focused NGO’s that increasingly include men in their work; some are almost exclusively run by men, yet focus on legal education for rural women. To date, there is a dearth of literature on the subject on emerging changing North African masculinities; current – albeit scant - literature on African masculinities specializes in Africa south of the Sahara or on the Arab Middle East. The nascent discourse on the role of men in a changing society in Mediterranean North Africa with its Berber/Arab heritage needs to be investigated. Preliminary fieldwork – that will be expanded in 2015 - has demonstrated a sense of uncertainty among young men searching for a new role within marriage, family, as fathers and respected members of society. This void can readily be filled by radical interpretations of Islam that offer a sense of stability and clarity.
This article analyses the most recent family reforms in Egypt (2000-2008) and Morocco (2004). Generally viewed as the most progressive shari‘a-based reforms in the Muslim world in the new millennium, in this article I will demonstrate that women’s expanded divorce rights as well as extended maternal custody and guardianship arrangements have reinforced gendered notions of husbands being financial providers and wives caregivers. This article not only asks whether the reforms have “liberated” women, but also analyses the implications of the legal changes on the position of men inside the family.
While there is ample scholarship in the context of contemporary divorce parenthood, which studies the position of divorced fathers in the West, such scholarship is almost absent with regard to the Muslim world. A century of Muslim family law reform notwithstanding, most studies still deal with the “is it good or bad for women” question. The perspective of Muslim men is still lacking. I argue that studies on Muslim family law have much to gain from incorporating a more inclusive perspective, which investigates both men and women’s lived experiences with the law as well as the extent to which family law reform changes the interaction between them. This will make it possible to detect whether official constructions of fatherhood and motherhood, as enshrined in law, are in line with how different groups in contemporary Egyptian society wish to give meaning to the practice of parenting, both in the intact and the dissolved family.
In order to reinforce my argument, I will pay attention to the way judges deal with the family law reforms. In contrast to Middle Eastern scholarship on law and gender, judges employ a more holistic approach. In line with the spirit of the legislator, which clearly presents the law as being one for the entire family (fathers, mothers, children) they engage in critical dialogue with both the law and the men and women who present their claims in front of them. In the process, so I argue, they try to find solutions which eliminate injustice against women, protect the rights of children, and preserve the dignity of men.
