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Emancipation Levels among Moroccan Women in the Netherlands The Lasting Impact of Cultural Background Roos van Kreij June 2016 Supervisor: Dr. Seiki Tanaka Second reader: Dr. Anja van Heelsum Master thesis Political Science, International Relations 2 Table of contents 1. Introduction 5 2. Literature review 11 2.1 General literature on emancipation 12 Education and job opportunity 12 Gender equality 12 Social institutions 13 2.2 Moroccan women in the Netherlands 13 Dutch policy 14 Religion 14 2.3 Moroccan women in Morocco 15 Education and job opportunity 15 Marital status and family 16 Participation in society 17 3. Argument 18 3.1 Urban versus rural 19 Traditionality and development 19 Education 21 Marital status and family composition 22 3.2 Differences in emancipation levels 23 3.3 Influence of the Dutch society 23 3.4 Operationalization 26 3.5 Research design 27 4. Analysis 30 4.1 Moroccan women in Morocco 31 Rural women 31 Urban women 33 4.2 Moroccan women in the Netherlands 35 3 Migration to the Netherlands 36 Social contacts 38 Norms and values, mentality and customs 39 Education 42 4.3 Findings and alternative arguments 43 Education 45 Age of arrival and length of stay in the Netherlands 46 Marital status when arriving in the Netherlands 47 Number of children 48 Religion 48 5. Conclusion and discussion 51 5.1 Conclusion 51 5.2 Limitations 52 5.3 Implications 55 Generalisation 55 Policy 56 5.4 Future research 57 References 58 Appendices 62 Appendix A: Social institutions variables 62 Appendix B: Influence of the Dutch society mechanisms 63 Appendix C: Summaries of interviews 65 Appendix D: Origins of interviewees 92 Appendix E: Characteristics of interviewees 93 4 1. Introduction “In the Dutch society the Moroccan woman participates the least on the labour market, has the lowest level of education and the highest percentage of illiteracy. She is being controlled by the Moroccan law and religion. The influence of the Moroccan Family Law is also very big in the Netherlands. This Law considers the woman as weak and the man as wage earner. She cannot marry or divorce independently and can be disowned by her husband” - Azarkan (2000) In the Netherlands, Moroccan immigrant women are often regarded as a homogenous group, as Western media have created abstract perceptions of these women. As a result, the ill- understood Moroccan women are perceived as one entity, in which social differences do not seem to matter. Their diverse social-cultural contexts are often neglected by Western perception, since, unfortunately, Moroccan culture is poorly understood in the West. Especially on the issue of gender equality and emancipation there are Western stereotypes about Moroccan women; not only are they portrayed as submitting to Islam and patriarchy, they are also objectified as helpless women with a lack of agency (Sadiqi, 2003:213). This thesis will clarify on the heterogeneity of Moroccan women in the Netherlands, especially on the issue of emancipation. According to the Dutch research institute CBS, emancipation implies three different aspects: participation on the labour market, economic independence and societal participation. In these aspects, women must have the same political, legal, cultural and social rights and opportunities as men (Putters and Tjin-A-Tsoi, 2014). In the Dutch policy on emancipation, emancipation is described as follows: ‘the possibility to be independent and the realization of equal rights, opportunities, freedoms and responsibilities for both men and women’ (Pels, 2006:11-12). Both definitions of emancipation contain women’s autonomous position, while the definition of CBS also contains women’s self-development by participation in society. In sum, emancipated women are more ‘free’ than women who are not or less emancipated. Emancipation also means a high level of autonomy (Sadiqi, 2003:162). Furthermore, women’s emancipation has a strong connection with gender equality, especially in Morocco, as women are often restricted relative to and subordinate to men. Also, when women are emancipated, it usually implies that there is case of more gender equality. In 5 Sweden, for example, there is a high level of women’s labour market participation. Labour market participation is an operationalized measure for emancipation. Women can be considered as economically independent if they participate on the labour market. Because of this, the uneven balance of work and power between the sexes is eliminated and an equal society is achieved. The government of Sweden defines gender equality as equal rights, obligations, and possibilities for men and women in all areas of life (Nordenmark and Nyman, 2003:181-182). As most research on emancipation is about the comparison between men and women, or between different national or religious groups, this thesis will compare women from the same Moroccan nationality and Islamic religion with each other. This thesis argues that there is variation in the level of emancipation among Moroccan women in the Netherlands. In other words: this study will argue that some Moroccan women are more emancipated than others; that is, some Moroccan women hold a high level of emancipation and others a low level of emancipation. The research question of this thesis is: what explains the difference in levels of emancipation among Moroccan women? The dependent variable here is emancipation, in which the variation is a high level of emancipation versus a low level of emancipation. This study argues that region of origin, being rural or urban, is the most important indicator for the differentiation among Moroccan women. Regional origin determines the culture of a society. This cultural background implies norms and values, mentality and customs. These aspects differ per society. Within Morocco, the differences between urban and rural areas are the most apparent, because of the different development levels in these areas. Norms and values, mentality and customs influence variables that can influence women’s emancipation levels, such as marriage, education, labour market participation and social contacts. These variables are also influenced by the access women have to education, health and the labour market, as not all societies offer the same chances and opportunities. This access is determined by regional origin and its level of development as well. For example, in urban areas there generally is more access to education and health, which influences women’s opportunities. This thesis furthermore argues that the norms and values, mentality and customs of a woman, together with the characteristics she has such as marital status, education, having a job and social contacts, determine her level of autonomy and participation. As stated above, the levels of autonomy and participation indicate a woman’s emancipation level. In sum, this thesis argues that all these variables that affect women’s emancipation levels, such as her 6 norms and values, mentality, customs, marital status, education, job and social contacts, are a product of culture. Cultural background explains the differences in levels of emancipation among Moroccan women in Morocco. Culture is tied to geography, which is why this thesis uses regional origin as a proxy for cultural background. Regional origin does not only indicate differences between women in Morocco, since, after migrating to the Netherlands, Moroccan women are influenced by their regional origin as well. Moroccan women coming from urban areas are, due to the developed and modern culture in Moroccan urban areas, more familiar with the modern and Western lifestyle of the Netherlands. After migration they adapt quite easily to Dutch society. Women coming from rural areas have more difficulty to adapt and integrate, for their way of living in Morocco differs a great deal from the Dutch society they migrated to. Moroccan rural women harmonize less with Dutch modern and liberal norms and values, than with the mentality, customs and norms and values of their Moroccan regional origin. Their struggle to adapt affects their level of autonomy and participation in society and therefore their level of emancipation. In relation to Moroccan urban women, they will receive less education, will participate less on the labour market, have less Dutch contacts and remain to have more traditional ideas about, for instance, marriage. Moroccan urban women attune more to Dutch society than Moroccan rural women, which contributes to their autonomy, education level, participation in society and on the labour market and the dissemination of Dutch norms and values. Moroccan regional origin does also affect women’s emancipation level in the Netherlands, as it determines how much effect the Dutch society will have on the norms and values, mentality and customs of a woman. Urban women (for example from Casablanca) who are already more emancipated in Morocco, become more emancipated in the Netherlands. Rural women (for example from the mountainous region near Nador) who have a lower degree of emancipation in Morocco, do not become more emancipated in the Netherlands, as the influence of their region of origin restrains them. Therefore, not only does the gap in emancipation between different Moroccan women remain to exist in the Netherlands, it even increases. The mechanism as explained in this argument section is outlined in the graph below. 7 Figure 1: The argument of this thesis. Most research on gender equality and emancipation among immigrants compares immigrants with natives, or different immigrant groups with each other, such as Turks with Moroccans. A distinction between different Moroccan women is seldom made, as Moroccan women are often considered as a homogenous group. Differences in age, class, education, cultural and religious orientations, ambitions, lifestyle or choices among Moroccan women, are not made visible (Roggeband and Verloo, 2007:284). Differences in regional origin among Moroccan women are also neglected, for only recently it has been recorded where Moroccan immigrants exactly come from (Fokkema et al., 2009:51). Some existing work does acknowledge the heterogeneity of Moroccan women, such as the articles by Sadiqi (2003) and Pels (2000).

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