Modernizing Patriarchy

<p>Morocco is hailed by academics international NGO workers and the media as a trailblazer in women's rights and legal reforms. The country is considered a model for other countries in the Middle East and North African region but has Morocco made as much progress as experts and government officials claim? In <i>Modernizing Patriarchy</i> Katja Žvan Elliott examines why women's rights advances are lauded in Morocco in theory but are often not recognized in reality despite the efforts of both Islamist and secular feminists.</p> <p>In Morocco female literacy rates remain among the lowest in the region; many women are victims of gender-based violence despite legal reforms; and girls as young as twelve are still engaged to adult men despite numerous reforms. Based on extensive ethnographic research and fieldwork in Oued al-Ouliya <i>Modernizing Patriarchy</i> offers a window into the life of Moroccan Muslim women who though often young and educated find it difficult to lead a dignified life in a country where they are expected to have only one destiny: that of wife and mother. Žvan Elliott exposes their struggles with modernity and the legal reforms that are supposedly ameliorating their lives. In a balanced approach she also presents male voices and their reasons for criticizing the prevailing women's rights discourse. Compelling and insightful <i>Modernizing Patriarchy</i> exposes the rarely talked about reality of Morocco's approach toward reform.</p>