Wednesday
29 October 2014 - 20:38
By Majid Morceli
San Francisco - If you are a
Moroccan woman, The Global
Gender Gap Report 2014 will make you want to sob. According to the report, Moroccan women
are ranked 133 out of 142 countries in terms of equality. To put it into
perspective, Moroccan women are doing a little better than women from Chad
(140), but worse than women from Guinea (132).
What is more
upsetting is that the status of Moroccan women has actually gotten much worse
in the last nine years. Since 2005, Morocco’s rank dropped from 106 to 133. The
report indicated that Morocco is among five countries with the highest absolute
and relative decrease on the Economic Participation and Opportunity subindex
over the past nine years. In 2014, Morocco continued to be one of the twenty
lowest-performing countries on the Literacy rate indicator.
I am not sure if
decision-makers in Morocco even know this report exists. Reading the report
should make them pause.
Moroccan women are
the backbone of the family structure around which Moroccan society is based. With
these horrific rankings, how can we ever expect to see Morocco make any social
progress?
Ten years ago, the
king of Morocco asked, “How can society achieve progress while women, who
represent half the nation, see their rights violated and suffer as a result of
injustice, violence, and marginalization?”
What happened 10
years later? Moroccan women fair much worse in a society dominated by men, even
though the constitution grants them equal social, economic, political, and
environmental rights, as well as equal civil rights. The Moroccan government is
just another example why women are not doing well. Only two women are Ministers
and four others hold junior positions, and we hardly hear a thing about them or
what they do.
The question that
begs itself is: who is at fault here, if anyone? What should be done about this
crisis? Or are we just going to look the other way and pretend that Moroccan
women are fine and right where they should be.
It is certainly
not money at the root of the problem. Many poor countries, such as Burundi and
Vietnam, are doing much a better job emancipating their women.
Is it definitely
not religion. Morocco is a somewhat secular country, and women enjoy more
freedom than women in many other countries that are ranked higher.
It is not the culture, either. Moroccans feel very proud when they see
their women succeed. Mbarka Bouaida, Minister Delegate to the Minister of Foreign Affairs and
Cooperation, comes to mind. We need more women in her capacity.
What is lacking in
Morocco is the will of those in charge to give women a chance. Moroccan women
themselves need to start asking for their rights. They cannot wait for men to
do it for them. It will take time, of course, but they should do it for the
next generation of women and for their country.
What is the
Moroccan media doing to educate the masses? How about those so-called Women
organizations that are mushrooming in Morocco? How about those 17% of women –
66 of them – who were elected to the Parliament? Is anyone doing anything to
change this sad outcome?
132 countries are
doing better when it comes to women. If these statistics do not make Moroccans
want to run and hide, I don’t know what will.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s
own and do not necessarily reflect Morocco World News’ editorial policy
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http://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2014/10/142724/gender-equality-bad-news-for-moroccan-women/
