This study examines the social conditions of women in medieval Morocco (11th–14th centuries), with a particular focus on the family and its internal gender relations. To address the scarcity of information in narrative chronicles, the study draws on material from selected collections of nawāzil (collections of historical legal judgements) and travel accounts. The conceptual framework is based on the notion of qiwāma, an Islamic legal and ethical concept denoting a husband's responsibility to financially maintain, protect, and care for his family. By tracing the various stages of marriage, the study seeks to uncover prevailing social practices and norms shaped by qiwāma, while also highlighting the strategies through which families negotiated and mitigated its potential harms. It further underscores the variations arising from different social strata, particularly in the imposition of conditions designed to protect women from men's abuse of authority, and examines the impact of these dynamics on family stability.
