Moroccan women build land rights movement

Stacy Wheeler – Global Post - Wednesday, 25 July 2012 (originally published 18 Jul)

Moroccan women attend a rally during International Women’s Day in Rabat in 2011. The poster reads ‘We are denied the rights to our land’. Women across tribal areas are seeking changes in laws that would allow them to inherit family land. Image: ABDELHAK SENNA/AFP/Getty Images

RABAT, Morocco — When Rkia Bellot’s family sold their communal land in 2004, each of her eight brothers received a share of the proceeds. But Bellot, a single woman, got nothing.

That’s because Bellot’s family land was part of the 37 million acres in Morocco governed by the orf, or tribal law. When this type of family land is sold, the unmarried or widowed women in the family, collectively called the Soulaliyate, often become destitute.

Bellot, now 66, wanted a better fate for herself, and launched a campaign against the practice with the help of a national NGO. Her fight to win ownership rights for women has emboldened fellow Soulaliyate to take on Morocco’s male-dominated judicial system and ancient traditions . . .

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