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Women's Political Voice in Morocco

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Women's Political Voice in Morocco April 2015 Case Study Summary Women’s empowerment and political voice • Women’s representation in parliament THE ROAD TO REFORM has increased dramatically, from 1% in 2003 to 17% today. Women’s political voice in • Morocco’s 2004 Family Code is one of the Morocco most progressive in the Arab world. • In 1993, Morocco ratified an international Clare Castillejo and Helen Tilley agreement on gender equality that has provided leverage for further progress in domestic legislation. • The 2011 constitution asserts women’s equal rights and prohibits all discrimination, including gender discrimination. • Data on the spending of public funds is now gender-disaggregated data and so can be used to inform lobbying campaigns to improve outcomes for women and girls. • Women’s health and social outcomes have improved dramatically: the fertility rate is now one of the lowest in the region; the maternal mortality rate fell by two-thirds in just two decades; girls’ primary school enrolment rose from 52% in 1991 to 112% in 2012 (due to re-enrolment); and just under 23% of women are in formal employment (2011). This and other Development Progress materials are available at developmentprogress.org Development Progress is an ODI project that aims to measure, understand and communicate where and how progress has been made in development. ODI is the UK’s leading independent Moroccan women gather at an event commemorating International Women’s Day. Photo: © UN Women / Karim think tank on international development Selmaouimen. and humanitarian issues. Further ODI materials are available at odi.org.uk developmentprogress.org Why explore women’s political voice in uprisings of 2011 led Morocco’s King Mohammad VI Morocco? to adopt wide-ranging constitutional reforms, including Women’s political mobilisation in Morocco illustrates how an elected government and an independent judiciary, excluded and adversely incorporated groups can achieve these reforms have had paradoxical effects for women. greater political voice, even in the face of considerable Opportunities for political voice have increased, but not obstacles. Morocco’s active and effective women’s only for women, and the first democratic election held in movement originally attracted mostly urban-educated 2011 brought to power a moderate Islamist party – the women but expanded during the 1990s. It broadened Justice and Development Party (PJD) – that is opposed to its appeal, drawing in both secular and Islamist women, progress on women’s rights. and lobbied for equality for women and girls in access This context makes the ability of Moroccan women to services, employment and political voice. This has had to promote their rights and influence policy all the more an impact: women have acquired progressively greater remarkable, and it shows that progress is not linear. Here presence in civil society and the formal political system, we outline some of the most significant milestones in and they have become politically active in new ways. Morocco in terms of increased political voice. This political engagement has enabled women to fight for their rights more effectively and has led to a series Political opening and increased number of women in of institutional, legal and policy reforms that women politics elsewhere in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) The pro-democratic reforms that began in Morocco in the region, with the exception of Tunisia (Chambers and 1990s (in part as a result of international pressure) opened Cummings, 2014), have not been able to achieve. The up opportunities for women to exercise greater political campaign to reform family law in particular has been held voice and participation. up as a model for women’s movements across the region. The women’s movement used Article 30 of the 1962 These reforms have, in turn, created further opportunities constitution, which states that women and men should for women to exercise voice, both within formal politics have equal access to elected office, to push for quotas. In and broader society. 2002, 30 seats were reserved for women in the Assembly The policy changes that women have achieved since the of Representatives and this was increased following the 1990s have been highly contested, challenging as they do Arab Spring. Women now occupy 17% of parliamentary existing power relations and the nature of the underlying seats, which is above the regional average and represents a political settlement. As a result, implementation has been dramatic increase from the 2003 election where only 1% slow and inconsistent. However, these policy reforms have of seats went to women (Quota Project, 2014). unquestionably empowered women: they provide a crucial framework within which women can make further claims, Legal reforms to advance women’s rights and send a powerful signal about the future direction of Since the early 1990s there has been a series of legal women’s rights and public roles. This iterative interaction reforms in Morocco that have gradually helped to advance between agency through mobilisation and structural women’s formal legal rights, with positive implications for change through institutional and policy reform lies at their agency and political voice. Early reforms were limited the heart of the recent progress Morocco has made on but built momentum for more substantial changes. women’s political voice. Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW, 1993) What progress has been achieved? In 1993, Morocco ratified CEDAW (although specific The progress achieved on women’s political voice and clauses were excluded), giving women leverage in their rights needs to be understood within the context of negotiations for progress in domestic legislation. Morocco and the broader MENA region. Morocco is a constitutional monarchy in which the King and the Labour code (2003) traditional establishment enjoy vast powers; democratic This recognised gender-based discrimination and space remains considerably limited despite top-down criminalised sexual harassment in the workplace. political liberalisation reforms undertaken since the 1990s. The region is characterised by entrenched gender inequality Moudawana (‘Personal Status Code’) reform (2004) and women face severe social, political and economic The Moudawana codified women’s subordinate status constraints. Authoritarian political systems dominate, within the family and in relation to divorce, marriage, child resulting in a lack of political space for any citizen demands. custody, inheritance and property rights, limiting women’s In recent years there has also been the rise of powerful autonomy and agency. In 2004, it underwent substantial political Islamist movements that reject many elements reforms. The ‘Family Code’, as it was renamed, is now of the women’s rights agenda. In fact, while the Arab considered one of the most progressive in the Arab world; 2 Development Progress Case Study Summary the Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) identified across the Maghreb formed a regional network known it as the second most liberal of six countries in the MENA as Collectif 95 Maghreb Egalité (Collective 95 Maghreb region in its treatment of women, after Tunisia.1 Equality). This enabled Moroccan women to point to improved gender equality in neighbouring countries, such Nationality law (2007) as Tunisia, helping them illustrate the compatibility of This enabled children to gain Moroccan citizenship women’s rights and Islam. through the mother for the first time. The women’s movement in Morocco adopted an approach to policy engagement which saw them lobbying Constitutional reform (2011) for change from within the establishment, rather than The new constitution strengthened and institutionalised fighting for reform using confrontational and oppositional women’s rights and asserted equality between men and women. tactics. This ‘within the tent’ approach has made it possible for their networks to include the Palace, and for some Criminal legislation (2014) to be appointed to positions on relevant boards and A parliamentary amendment removed the proviso that a councils. This regular interaction with key power-holders rapist could escape prosecution by marrying his victim, and decision-makers has provided an important lever in even if she was underage. Women’s activists now hope to negotiating for institutional change. push for a substantial overhaul of the country’s rape laws. Links with ordinary women Budgetary reform Feminist non-governmental organisations (NGOs) The introduction of gender-responsive budgeting (GRB) emerged in the 1990s and sought to tackle the problems has resulted in changes to the way that Morocco analyses faced by ordinary women. This gave the movement an its budget for gender inclusiveness. It is hoped that this entry point into the practical problems and obstacles information (disaggregated by gender) will provide the women experienced, and injected greater realism into women’s movement with leverage in campaigns for greater the movement’s priorities. Feminist groups adapted their policy effectiveness and implementation on issues related communication to suit their different audiences – using to women and girls. Arabic rather than French, adopting an Islamic frame of reference, demonstrating an in-depth knowledge of religious scripture and challenging gender-based violence. What are the factors driving change? Women involved in the movement stressed the need to distinguish between true Islamic values and local Effective and broad-based
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