Obstacles to universalism in human rights: the case of women in Morocco

Abstract

The main topyc of this article is to analyse the interrelation of factors that intervene in a universalist intepretation of human rights from a gender pespective. This topyc overpasses the strict culturalist vision of human rights (with its supposed Western base) and considers the importance of the socio-economic context in interaction with the cultural one. There are two extreme examples which are commonly shown: female mutilation in some Subsaharian countries and in the immigration context of most developed countries and gender discrimination by using the legimitacy of Islamic tradition. The selected case represents a contribution for showing the complexities of a universalist interpretation of human rights in contradiction with a socio-economic reality, that of Islam in respect to the women legal status. This example is to be contextualised by the supposed «transition» taking place in Morocco, where women’s role has been taken as a baromoter of transition of the so-called modernity of the Moroccan society.