This feature examines eleven fences around the world.

Read about family law in Algeria

Family Law is the category of law that deals with family issues and domestic relations.

An imam academy in Morocco graduates 50 women, some of the first women to be officially trained as religious leaders in the Arab world.

Learn more about other women who have effected in different religions.

Following the death of the Prophet Muhammad, his third wife, Aisha bint Abu Bakar becomes one of four people to transmit the "hadiths," or the words and deeds of Muhammad considered by many Muslims to be important tools for discerning the Qur'an.

Moroccan women, in particular, have achieved some important victories, playing an increasingly active role in politics, and successfully lobbying for a new family law which now grants them equal rights in marriage, divorce and the ownership of property.

Ambassador Dennis Ross discusses the role of women in Muslim societies, Moroccan politics, and democracy and U.S. foreign policy in the Arab world.

Links to information on Islam, education for women, and women's rights organizations.

During my honeymoon in Tangier in the summer of 2004, the Moroccan press was abuzz with news of King Mohammed VI's progressive new family law. Granting women equal rights in marriage, divorce, and the ownership of property, it was hailed as a revolutionary step toward women's empowerment in the Arab world.