One Hundred Steps, One Hundred Provisions For an egalitarian codification of Family and Personal Status Laws in the Maghreb

Collectif Maghreb Egalité (Published: November 2003)

In 1991, women’s organizations and researchers from the three Maghreb countries (Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia) meeting in Rabat at the invitation of the Moroccan Women’s Democratic Association (ADFM) - decided to form the Collectif 95 Maghreb Egalité (Collective 95 - For Equality in the Maghreb).

They noted that whereas the status and situation of women in the region have registered important changes, social and political resistance remains very strong while new threats to the gains and rights secured by Maghreb women loom large on the horizon.

Belonging to a region that a common history, language and civilization have endowed with a real unity and homogeneity, the women founding members of the Collectif 95 Maghreb Egalité chose to launch their initiative from within the framework of the autonomous women’s movement in the Maghreb which emerged in the early 1980s.

This first required a collective reflection guided by a scientific approach; initially to map which women’s rights had been obtained since 1985, the date of the last World Conference on Women, and then to outline strategies for the future.

The first three years of Collectif 95 were exceptionally intense: after hours of discussions which were heated, and at times exasperating although never futile, decisions were always reached by consensus. In the midst of hectic activity, Collectif members never lost sight of the real goal: basing activism on an in-depth and well-grounded knowledge of the social, economic and political realities in our countries.

Collectif members decided to seize the opportunity presented by the forthcoming World Conference on Women in Beijing to highlight the struggle of women in our region at the NGO Forum.

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