She is best known for her work to help improve women's rights through reforming the Mudawana, Morocco's legal code governing family life.
There, she later recounted, female political prisoners were tortured just like the men, but they were also subject to further discriminatory measures linked to their gender.
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.
[1] When a socialist government came into power in 1998, its prime minister, Abderrahman Youssoufi, met with Jbabdi and a UAF delegation, and took note of their major demands.
Eventually a new Mudawana was adopted in 2004, significantly expanding women's rights as they relate to marriage, divorce, and other family matters.
[3][6] In 2005, she was honored by the American NGO Vital Voices with a Global Leadership Award for her contribution to the improvement of women's rights in Morocco.