USAID views gender as a cross-cutting issue, with a focus on women`s political and socioeconomic inclusion. Almost all USAID/Morocco activities deal with gender, and most involve significant gender components. As a good practice, gender considerations play an important role in the selection of implementing partners, the recruitment of staff, the selection of project beneficiaries and monitoring and evaluation activities. Training opportunities are aligned with gender parity and are organized at appropriate times and locations to maximize participant participation and voice. In addition, USAID actively promotes participants as role models through social media, videos, and success stories that involve women in non-traditional roles. USAID programs also promote women`s socioeconomic and political empowerment through tailored capacity-building approaches, advocacy and outreach with agencies, and leadership development initiatives. The first demands of women for equality in the history of Morocco revolve around the reform of civil status and family law from the end of the 1940s. The debate on personal status continued in Moroccan politics until 2000. An expert from the committee requested funding to support women`s entrepreneurship and women in rural areas. What support would be given to women to enter the engineering professions? The expert called for policies that encourage women to take up leadership positions in the private sector. The Council welcomes the progress made in the implementation of the Convention, in particular the completion of the ratification of the Optional Protocol to the Convention, the adoption of a law against violence against women and the development of the right to vote. Women may be deprived of guardianship only if it is in the best interests of the child. The State has provided legal assistance to all women victims of violence.
The 2011 Constitution guarantees men and women equal protection and enjoyment of their laws. The country`s progressive family law (Moudawana) guaranteed important rights to Moroccan women, including the right to self-guardianship, the right to divorce, and custody rights. The legal age of marriage had been raised from 15 to 18 and women no longer needed to have their marriage approved by a male guardian. The Penal Code has made progress in addressing gender-based violence by addressing sexual assault without a partner and repealing the Marriage and Rape Act, which allowed a rapist to escape punishment by marrying his victim. Women`s unpaid work is a widespread phenomenon. Women working without pay account for almost 31 per cent of the total female labour force (84 per cent of women in rural areas). This has a negative impact on women`s degree of independence and their ability to negotiate within the family. Despite the law establishing strict and equal pay for equal work, gender pay inequality predominates. In civil service or government positions, women (who make up nearly a third of the state workforce) receive only 29% of the gross annual payroll. All these shortcomings cannot be overcome without a significant change in gender relations and without the principles of gender equality and justice in public policies. Women`s struggle for equality is of course part of this movement and has used context to reinforce the need for equality to be at the heart of building democracy and the modern state.
The delegation stated that strengthening education in rural areas was an element of the State`s policy in favour of rural areas. There was a high budget for education and teaching. There were more than 11,000 schools in rural areas and almost 50 per cent of teachers taught in rural areas. Additional measures are needed to combat early school leaving. The government has campaigned for more schools to be built, especially in rural areas. The poorest families received financial support to support their children`s education, and rural schools to improve facilities and support students` education. An assistance program is available to students under the age of 19. On July 31, 2021, Morocco`s parliament passed a reform that didn`t get much attention, but represented a major step forward in closing the gender gap in the country. This was a new amended law on joint-stock companies aimed at promoting a balanced representation of women and men in corporate governance bodies (Law 19.20 amending and supplementing Law 17-95 on joint-stock companies).
It has set binding quotas for women on the boards of listed companies, with the target of (at least) 30% women by 2024 and 40% by 2027. What services and support programmes have been provided to refugee women and women in detention centres? The presence of women in public decision-making bodies at national, local and regional levels is low. [8] However, the feminization of public positions and the increase in the number of women in such positions does not mean that there is equality or equal opportunities in terms of responsibilities and positions. Therefore, despite the laws, there are still obstacles in Morocco that prevent women from accessing the decision-making area on an equal footing with men. Global Rights for Women continues our exciting partnership with Mobilising for Rights Associates (MRA), based in Rabat, Morocco. MRA is an international non-profit women`s rights organization active in Morocco, Tunisia and Libya. MRA (“Woman” in Arabic) works with local women`s rights activists and associations to contribute to changes in laws, structures, relationships and cultural norms to promote women`s full enjoyment of their human rights. We are always honored to work with MRA leaders Stephanie Willman Bordat and Saida Kouzzi on our shared vision of equality and non-violence for women and girls. Despite progress in women`s employment rates, they represent such a small percentage of the workforce that Morocco is one of the five countries with the lowest percentage in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.
[13] In addition, USAID supports capacity building of the Ministry of Education (MOE) by developing evidence-based curriculum revisions and techniques based on international standards for teaching and learning. The materials developed promote gender equality and the inclusion of marginalized populations. To this end, USAID`s inclusive education teacher training activity in Morocco in support of equitable deaf education practices works closely with the Ministry of Environment to address the different vulnerabilities and needs of men and women by examining differences in girls` and boys` educational practices and performance. This program will conduct a gender gap analysis of educational barriers for Deaf students. With the revision of the Organic Law on the Chamber of Deputies (Upper House of Parliament) in 2002, the system of regional and national lists was introduced. In response to lobbying and activism by women`s movements, political parties decided to reserve all places on the national list for female candidates, giving access to 35 women in parliament (30 via the national list and 5 via the regional lists). As a result, Morocco is one of the Arab countries with the highest number of women parliamentarians (10%). Although Morocco has improved women`s rights, challenges remain. Women across the country continue to fight for equality, but the country ranks 143rd out of 153 countries in the 2020 Global Gender Gap Report. The latest USAID Gender Analysis 2020 report highlights the urgent need for integrated policies to prioritize gender-responsive programming.Our biggest obstacle is to close the legal loopholes that still exist with the differences between the laws in force and their implementation. Despite the introduction of a new compulsory health insurance scheme in 2006, a large proportion of the female workforce is not covered. With regard to access to care, the rate of affiliation to a health insurance system is 17.3 per cent for working men and 16.1 per cent for working women. [15] Women working in family care, domestic help and the traditional sector do not yet benefit from social or medical protection. (30% of the population subject to health insurance is composed of women against 70% of men). Improving men`s and women`s equal access to employment is another public policy challenge in promoting employment, which requires combating the various forms of segregation in the labour market (wage discrimination, unpaid employment of women, higher unemployment rate of women than men).
