Washington highlights morocco’s achievements in women rights

By Madison on mar 13, 2010

Washington – The US Department of State has highlighted the achievements made by Morocco in the area of women rights, mainly with regard to political representation and amendments made to the Family Law.

    In its 2009 annual report of Human Rights Practices in the world, released on Thursday in Washington, the State Department noted that women’s representation in local government and political parties’ decision making structures increased in 2009.

    In this respect, it noted that before the June elections, women held less than 1% of elected positions at the local level, and only two women served as mayors.

    It added that following an agreement in November 2008 between the government and political parties, a minimum of 12 percent of the local council seats were reserved for women, that more than 20,000 female candidates ran for office, with 3,421 winning seats (13 percent of the total), and that twelve women were selected in subsequent indirect elections to head local councils as mayors.

    In addition, « women are able to travel, receive loans, and start businesses without their husband’s or father’s permission, » it said.

source: map