Latifa Jbabdi

Latifa Jbabdi (born 1955) is a Moroccan feminist activist and writer. She is best known for her work to help improve women's rights through reforming the Mudawana, Morocco's legal code governing family life. She also served as a member of the House of Representatives from 2007 to 2011.

Early life, education, and youth activism Latifa Jbabdi was born in 1955 in Tiznit, in southern Morocco. She completed her education in her hometown and later in Agadir. As a student, she became a part of the fervent youth activist movement of the period. She joined a clandestine communist movement, named "March 23" after the March 23, 1965, student protests in Casablanca that were the target of a brutal government crackdown.

Imprisonment Jbabdi was arrested in 1972, but only held briefly. 8 Mars ("March 8th," for International Women's Day) evolved into the March 8th Movement, then the Union de l'Action Féminine (the Union of Women's Action, or UAF) in 1987. Jbabdi helped found that organization and became its president.

It was through this framework that in 1992 she became involved in a drive present the authorities with a petition with 1 million signatures that demanded the reform of the Mudawana, Morocco's legal code governing family life. A few minor changes to the code came about the following year, after the petition's successful completion, but the more significant result was that women's issues more broadly became a major subject of political discussion in the country.

Jbabdi then became a member of the Equity and Reconciliation Commission. She was the only woman on the committee, which dealt with the aftermath of decades of state violence and repression in Morocco.

In 2024, she was elected vice president of the African Union's African Women Transitional Justice Platform, which seeks to bring women together to strengthen transitional justice across the continent.

Jbabdi was honored in 2005 by the American NGO Vital Voices with a Global Leadership Award for her contribution to the improvement of women's rights in Morocco.