International Women’s Day: Morocco Among Countries ‘Closest to Gender Parity’

Morocco made progress in different fields to achieve gender equality, but the country is still away from closing the gender gap.

Monday marks the International Women’s Day, a date when the world celebrates women and their achievements. Moroccan women continue to fascinate the world, reinforcing their positions in all fields, including higher education.

Celebrating Moroccan women, Morocco’s representation at UNESCO has identified the North African country as “one of the countries closest to gender parity” in engineering fields.

The representation pointed out women make up45% engineering graduates in Moroccan universities.

Quoting data from the 2019 Gender Equality Report, the Moroccan representation noted that 46% of Moroccan  graduates in  Information and Communications Technology (ICT) are women.

Every year, Morocco celebrates women of all ages, ethnicity, and education background.

Moroccan NGOs and media often publish reports about the country’s most influential women.

Despite making considerable progress in terms of gender equality, Morocco still faces an urgent task of doubling its efforts to address some enduring challenges limiting Moroccan women. 

Unemployment among women increased by 2.7 points to 16.2% for women in 2020, data from the High Commission for Planning (HCP) revealed in February.

Unemployment in Morocco moved from 9.2% in 2019 to 11.9% in 2020.

The same February report by the HCP shows that housework significantly impacted the ability of Moroccan female students to follow remote classes during the pandemic.

According to the report, most Moroccans still consider housework a “female duty.” Such perceptions continue to negatively impact the study time for girls and young women in Morocco.

In addition to obstacles in the field of education, violence against women continues to be among Morocco’s most pressing concerns.

At least 5.3 million women in Morocco experienced violence, According to aSeptember 2020 report by HCP.

Economic violence increased from 8% in 2009 to 15% in 2019, while sexual violence rose from 9% to 14% during the same period, the report found.

In rural Morocco, physical violence against women increased from 9% to 13% between 2009 and 2019. Meanwhile, domestic violence perpetrated by family members or marital partners affected 52% of women and girls in 2019.

Marital violence also increased by 46% between 2009 and 2019, with 5.3 million women aged between 15 and 74 experiencing violence from their partners.

NGOs have long urged Morocco’s government to reinforce laws to hold gendered violence perpetrators accountable. Advoacy groups have notably requested legislations that would intensify punishments against people found guilty of marital, domestic violence and sexual harassment.

Between 2009 and 2019, sexual violence from a third party against women aged 15-74 increased from 4.3% to 8.5% in Morocco.

Report after report established that although Morocco made significant strides in terms of women’s rights, the country still needs to reinforce efforts to close the gender gap.

The World Economic Forum’s 2020 Global Gender Gap Index ranked Morocco 143 out of 153, suggesting that the country still has a long road to travel.

Source: Morocco World News