Resumen de Gender, Globalization, and the Urban-Rural Divide: Examining the Effects of Legal and Social Change Throughout Morocco
Although Morocco has long had a vocal women’s rights movement, the goals of this movement have often been thwarted or redirected by the central government (makhzen), and the aims of activists are sometimes presented as irrelevant to the social traditions of the countryside. Particularly since the 2004 revisions to the mudawana, the family status code that governs women’s rights in marriage and divorce, the urban-rural divide highlights a vast gap between legislation and implementation. While this is often framed as a cultural gap, behind this opposition is a deeper story: the uneven dissemination of development projects of the center that neglect the periphery. Urban areas boast lower rates of maternal and infant mortality as well as better opportunities for women’s education and healthcare. These disparities are further complicated by processes of globalization, migration, and economic development that have skipped over parts of the country while also contributing to a draining of resources from rural areas. An examination of the reforms and implementation of the 2004 mudawana laws demonstrates both that the laws’ effects were not as far reaching as activists hoped and that the urban-rural divide continues to imperil rural women even as it upholds stereotypes about the disconnect between city and countryside
