The Wall Street Journal has published on May 20 a feature on the new Family Code of Morocco, under the title “Rising the Veil”. The prestigious publication reported that the new code reforms the status of Moroccan women within the family and levels their position with that of men and gives women the right to marry with the man of their choice ‘without resorting to the assent of the parents’. It adds that although this new code encountered "hard resistance from Islamist elements throughout the country, it was finally approved rather easily."
<i>Bladi.Net</i> reports that the Wall Street Journal based its comments on Morocco’s new family code on a study of made by "Freedom House". The study evaluates the standing of women on legal, political and social parameters in 16 countries in the Middle East and North Africa, in addition to the Palestinian territories.
It should be noted that this study places Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria on the highest place in regards to women’s political rights, evaluated on the basis of five parameters: discrimination, personal freedom, economic rights, political rights and social rights.
