from:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3532612.stm
Divorce divides Morocco and W Sahara
By Pascale Harter
BBC correspondent in Rabat
A new family code in Morocco, known as the Mudawana, is having differing
effects on women's rights in the Islamic kingdom and the disputed
territory of Western Sahara, which falls under Moroccan rule.
Saharawi women have henna tattoos for divorce parties
For Fatima in Morocco, the law allowed her to leave her husband when he
beat her last month.
He had beaten her before, but this time Fatima told him: "The King says
you can't beat me anymore".
Earlier this year, Moroccan King Mohammed VI pushed the Mudawana through
parliament.
As of February 2004, Moroccan women no longer have to obey their husbands
by law, something many Moroccan men saw as enshrining their right to use
their fists on disobedient wives.
Fatima's husband asked for forgiveness and Fatima went back to the marital
home satisfied she had the equal, if not the upper, hand.
Camels and jewellery
The new Mudawana is undoubtedly a progressive piece of legislation - for
women in Morocco - but not necessarily for women in the Western Sahara.
Morocco has administered the Western Sahara since 1975, and legislation
passed in Rabat is law in the Western Sahara.
When you get divorced... you're happy because you will meet new people,
start a life with someone new
Divorcee Salka
But in terms of women's rights they are two wildly differing cultures.
"For us, if a man beats his wife, he is no longer a man, he is a dog,"
said Salka, a 45-year-old Saharawi woman, recently divorced for the second
time.
In the Western Sahara, if a man beats his wife the minimum he must do to
ask her forgiveness is hold a second wedding, with all the gifts of camels
and jewellery that entails.
Even so, he will rarely be successful in convincing his wife to return.
Saharawi women divorce their husbands for far lesser misdemeanours.
"I divorced my first husband because I never really fell in love. I
divorced my second because he fell in love with someone else," says Salka.
Divorce parties
Polygamy, still allowed but made much more difficult under the new
Mudawana, is not uncommon in Morocco. But in the Western Sahara, to most
women it is unacceptable.
In Morocco, particularly in the lower and more religious classes, divorce
brings great shame on the woman. In the Western Sahara, she throws a
party.
In the Sahara, marriage is built on love
Anthropologist Naima Chikhaoui,
"Sadness is while you're married. When you get divorced you laugh again,
you're happy because you will meet new people, start a life with someone
new," says Salka.
The party is a way of letting everyone know that a woman is available again.
Fatou is a professional divorce-party goer. Sitting on a red carpet,
pouring mint tea from an ornate gold-plated set she explained the finer
points of a divorce party.
"The party is meant to pay homage to the divorced woman, so that she
doesn't feel weak or ashamed.
"We dress up, we get a band to play, and the men who fancy the divorced
women bring her presents, like a camel, perfume, or money. It can last for
three days, or as long as it takes for the woman to accept another offer,"
says Fatou.
Alluring
And divorced women in the Western Sahara receive no shortage of offers.
"Since I got divorced this time, there are many men who want to marry me,"
Souka told me, slapping her thigh and letting out a loud cackle.
"The young men want me even more than the older men do."
Saharawis are Muslim, but divorce carries no stigma for women
Mustafa's wife has been married three times before.
"A divorced woman is more alluring, she is experienced and sure of
herself," he explains.
In most of the Muslim world divorce carries with it a great social stigma,
and yet, Saharawis are devoutly Muslim.
Naima Chikhaoui, an anthropologist at the national Moroccan Institute of
Archaeology, says it is a common misconception that divorce is forbidden
by Islam.
It is not the Koran, she says, but the social standing of women in each
Muslim country which dictates how divorce is seen there.
"It's true that divorce was and still is a problem in Morocco. But divorce
is not a problem for a Saharawi woman because she enjoys a very important
social place. Men respect her not only for herself but for her family
too."
Another reason, she says, is the Saharawi concept of marriage.
"In the Sahara marriage is built on love, it's not a traditional structure
of marriage where a man shows up and says: 'I want to marry your daughter'
and she has no say in it."
Shameful
Under the new Mudawana, couples now have to go to court to obtain a
divorce rather than just getting a letter of repudiation from an Islamic
official.
Women's groups in Morocco say this is a step forward, less women are
turned out on to the streets with their children to look after, as judges
must now award the family home to whoever has custody of the children.
But for Saharawi women, divorce has never presented a problem and Saharawi
men too are unhappy about the new rules.
Batoul, a Saharawi man, is being forced to go to court to insist on a
divorce settlement.
"It's shameful for a man to ask his wife to go before a judge and claim
her rights or her children when all this is automatically taken care of
among the families," he says.
