hommes et les femmes (AELHF, Algeria), l’Asso-
ciation pour la défense et la promotion des droits
des femmes (ADPDF, Algeria), l’Association tuni-
sienne des femmes démocrates (ATFD), l’Associa-
tion des femmes tunisiennes pour la recherche et le
développement (AFTURD). These associations
were composed of women who were born around
the time of independence, raised within the new
state’s education system, and who were primarily
middle-class. The associations grew in force in a
context of civil society democratization, mass edu-
cation, economic crisis, and structural adjustment,
and what might be termed external factors (such as
new notions of development), and where women
were finding themselves marginalized in structures
of political opposition. It was also a context in
which they saw movements based on religion as
threatening (following the Iranian Revolution in
1979) and in which they struggled to find space for
expression in the sphere of civil society (Marzouki
1999). Organizations that arose during this period
and their successors continue to contribute today
to the debate on human rights and women’s rights
(Dwyer 1991), democracy, and the establishment
of the rule of law (Belarbi 2002, 141–57).
The legal context of the struggle for women’s
rights differed from country to country and meas-
ures to establish and reinforce women’s rights were
adopted at different times. The civil codes govern-
ing these issues – the Mudawwana in Morocco, the
Family Code in Algeria, and the Personal Status
Code in Tunisia – while differing significantly, have
some points in common. An underlying tension in
all these codes – on the one hand the recognition of
equality between the sexes and in citizenship rights,
in conformity with international law and, on the
other, the inequality in personal civil rights related
to the application of Sharì≠a and to laws that have
their source in religious decrees – has been a motor
of women’s activity throughout the struggle of fem-
inists for an equal civil status. Ijtihàdand the secu-
larization of family law – the Tunisian model being
the one that has adopted the most liberal reading –
are dimensions that distinguish these societies from
one another.morocco
Among the positive aspects of the Mudawwana
in Morocco, which was introduced in 1957 and in
1959, are that the eligible marriage age for girls was
raised to 15 and for boys to 18; a woman’s freedom
to exploit and dispose of her own wealth and inher-
itance was reaffirmed; and she gained the right to
divorce in certain circumstances. Her obligation to
obey her husband was legally abolished in 1993,276 human rights
except in cases where immoral conduct was feared.
Significant legal changes were introduced to the
Mudawwana in 2004, including the principle of
equality, whereby the spouses run the family
jointly; the mahris merely symbolic; the eligible
marriage age is the same for men and women; obe-
dience to the monogamy clause in the marriage con-
tract (if this is accepted at marriage) is obligatory;
polygamy is limited to two wives; and divorce
requires a judicial proceeding (discontinuing recog-
nition of non-judicial repudiation). Also, civil mar-
riages performed abroad (between 40 and 50
percent of emigrants are women) are now re-
cognized as legal. One change that weakens the rights
of women is that in cases of separation the father
gains the right to designate a guardian for his chil-
dren, whereas in 1993 the mother had been awarded
guardianship. For Moroccans living abroad, the
procedures related to polygamy and an unmarried
woman’s right to adopt a child under the regime of
kafàla (a customary form where the child keeps
his/her birth name) have not been specified. In the
workplace the rule of non-discrimination between
the sexes has not been legally affirmed.algeria
Upon independence in 1962, Algeria extended
the colonial statute of 1959, which did not allow
repudiation, and this law continued in effect until- The Algerian Family Code is, among the three
countries of the Maghrib, the most prejudicial to
women’s rights and when proposed to the national
assembly in 1981, it led to protests, but without
effect. Although not having a religious foundation
the code, finally adopted in 1984, treats women as
minors. It recognizes polygamy, guardianship over
the woman, and the woman’s obedience to her hus-
band. Following this, the mobilization of Algerian
women took on an unprecedented dynamic.
In addition to early and continuing protest against
the Family Code in Algeria, women also were active,
starting in 1990, in opposing measures taken in
municipalities dominated by the Islamic Salvation
Front (Front islamique du salut, FIS) by which the
veil was imposed upon women working in the
administration, women’s sports facilities were closed,
girls were forbidden to study music and dance in
public conservatories, and the separation of sexes
on beaches was applied. Women also mobilized in
favor of democracy and in solidarity with the fam-
ilies of “disappeared” persons. In 1997, a number
of women’s civil society associations launched an
appeal to collect a million signatures to promote
significant amendments to the Family Code and, in
2004, the group “20 years, enough!” bears witness