A striking percentage of 64% of Moroccan girls aged between 15 and 19 consider it completely justified for a man to beat up his ‘unfilial’ or ‘disobedient’ wife.
The figure came up in a recent UNICEF report titled ‘The State of the World’s Children 2023’, which unveiled opinions on how justified a husband is in hitting or beating his wife for reasons such as burning food, arguing, leaving the house without permission, neglecting the children, or refusing sexual relations, and the numbers are horrifying to say the least.
“Available data for developing countries show that nearly 50% of girls and women aged between 15 and 49 believe that wife beating is justified… ” the report said.
Morocco ranked fourteen out of fifteen countries in justification of wife-beating among female adolescents, only ahead of Yemen which had a percentage of 80%.
On another note, and according to the same document, child marriage is still prevalent in Morocco despite efforts and legal reforms to fight it.
Within the MENA region, Morocco ranks seventh overall in terms of child marriage, behind Tunisia, Oman, Qatar, Algeria, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, and Palestine, but ahead of Iran, Egypt, Iraq, Yemen.
The percentage of females who were first married or in union before 18 years of age is still stagnating at a rate of 14% ever since 2010.
For 13 years now, the number has yet to move a single digit, making it seem like a fool’s dream to meet UNICEF’s target of eliminating child marriage by 2030, unless stronger actions are taken.
UNICEF emphasized that child marriage rates, particularly for females, have continued to decline in the past decade worldwide, but at a very slow pace, and warned that eliminating this phenomenon would take over 300 years if things remain the same.
add your comment
Terms of publication : Not to offend the writer, people, sacred things, or attack religions or the divine self, and refrain from racist incitement and insults.