Morocco: website gives new twist to arranged marriages

CASABLANCA, Morocco: Marriage in Morocco has a changing face of increasingly these days that young men and women looking for lifetime partners head to the souk, a bazaar in this case "e" of marriage .
In a country where many marriages are still arranged, the click of a mouse the user will have to Soukzouaj, a free site where thousands of young Moroccans lonely heart compare their soulmates
"This site was created marriage in June 2010," Yasser Nejjar, soukzouaj.ma founder, told AFP.
"It is new, but it was a success because it's free and it is near."
Every day, almost 2,600 potential partners to visit the site, two thirds are women. Its shows a map of Morocco divided into 16 sections, and the user can click on the part of the country they choose to start their research.
"Today, for example, there are 1,670 items of women against 870 men. In my opinion this means that women are more aggressive than men," observed Nejjar.
"Most stations show that there is a strong desire to" serious "commitment and, in what they call" Halal "is to say legal, which is consistent with religious precepts. In short, marriage. "
Observers of Moroccan society regards matrimonial sites as a new phenomenon, linked to new forms of communication, even if there are many families arranged marriages in a country where Islam is the state religion.
"Girls today are demand," said sociologist Soumaya Naamane Guessous.
"They want husbands who love them, respect them, men not smothered by their mothers, enabling them to live away from their in-laws."
She said that the success of soukzouaj, apart from the fact that he is free in a country where arranged marriages are common, due to the fact "that the girls no longer accept the first suitor who knocks at the door their families or whose families suggests. "
The latest official figures show that more than 13 million surf the net in this North African kingdom of about 32 million.
The Internet has also played a role in the recent demonstrations of pro-democracy reform in Morocco, following a trend in the Arab world that began in Tunisia where protests sweep led to the ousting of President Zine el Abidine Ben Ali in January.

The first rallies in several cities in Morocco on February 20 were in response to a call by the youth via Facebook.
The Soukzouaj, most positions by women in the Moroccan
dialect, Darija, and French, the emphasis on the need to "respect" for them and a requirement that future spouses to be a "practicing Muslim".
"Young Moroccan woman, teacher, seeks Muslim with a good heart, good man who respects women and is generous in every way," reads one post.
Men, for their part, highlight their social status and "seriousness."
"I am Simon, 28, of Rabat, a computer engineer in a department, convenient, fun and very serious, serious girl looking for the City of even a serious relationship, which, God willing, will result in a brilliant marriage and holy, "said a man in search of the woman of his dreams.
The arrival of wedding venues shows the upheavals and changes resulting from the modernization of part of Moroccan society, observers say. - (AFP)