Shapely Agitator

Never one to conceal her charms behind the veils of maidenly Moslem modesty, pretty Princess Aisha, 26, the French-educated eldest daughter of King Mohammed V of Morocco, is an ardent champion of women's rights in Islam, an area where a lot of pioneering remains to be done on the subject. Last week she carried her fight to Damascus, and proved herself as delectable an agitator as ever made an Arab forget John Foster Dulles. Syria, which had other things to worry about, feted her all week, put her up in a palace, provided her with a Cadillac, and lined up in the streets to watch her pass by.

As leader of a delegation of five Moroccan women to the fourth congress of the Pan-Arab Women's Federation in Damascus, smoking cigarettes with Continental casualness in a decollete, skin-tight gown which had the other 300 delegates from nine Arab countries* goggling, the princess tucked one shapely foot under her and discussed her favorite topics: divorce and the veil. Morocco, she said, will soon have a law requiring men to produce legitimate reasons for a divorce instead of just telling a woman three times to go away. "Of course," she added, "we cannot forbid divorce, and besides, if a man and woman don't get along, they should not be forced to remain together. But we can make it so hard on men that we hope the rate will be cut by 50%." As for the veil: in Morocco "only old women cover their faces today--naturally, because they're old. I, too, will get a veil when I'm 60 and cover everything but my eyes. A woman's eyes never get old."

*Among countries not represented: Saudi Arabia and Yemen, where men are men and women are unequal.

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