Moroccan female politicians confront lingering gender inequality

2009-06-10

Despite efforts to include more women candidates, female representation in local elections is still lacking.

By Siham Ali for Magharebia in Casablanca – 10/06/09

[Mawassi Lahcen] Two days before the local elections in Morocco, women candidates still face challenges.

Women have still not yet achieved the desired level of representation in Morocco's local elections, particularly on political parties' regular electoral lists.

Figures published by the Ministry of the Interior show that percentage of female candidates on supplemental lists has risen from 4.8% in 2003 to 15.7% this year. Yet, only 3.4% of candidates on the regular lists are women.

Fatna Lakhail, an MP and candidate representing the Mouvement Populaire in the constituency of Gharb, told Magharebia that this is a major issue in Morocco. She believes that for as long as people's attitudes remain unchanged, women will not be able to aspire to a greater presence in the political arena.

"Even within political parties, women are looked upon in a superficial manner, as happens in daily life," she said. "I don't think there's a solution to this phenomenon. In my party, I'm the only woman at the top of a regular list. The situation is the same in Istiqlal and the USFP."

She added that the same thing happened during the legislative elections. In addition to the thirty women who were elected through the statutory quota, only four other women were elected from local lists.

Fouzia Gudira, a member of the USFP, is more optimistic. Awareness of the role of women in elected bodies is growing, she said. However, the progress made because of additional lists falls short of the expectations of women seeking equality, she added.

Khadija Rebbah, co-ordinator of the One-Third Movement – a group organised by the Moroccan Women's Democratic Association whose demands include increasing women's representation in politics through a quota system – explained that the women's movement would have liked to see a larger percentage of female candidates so that they could receive a larger share of the vote.

"Women should nonetheless be positive since 15% is a satisfactory figure," she told Magharebia. "Our organisation sent a letter to the Ministry of the Interior to request details of women's rankings on regular lists so that it could assess how the various political parties stand on the issue of women's representation."

Party leaders, who are still blamed in connection with the issue, have defended their stances and stress that it is difficult to find enough female candidates who are capable of winning seats in elections.

Saad Eddine El Othmani, President of the National Council of the Justice and Development Party, confirmed this. "Women tend to be drawn towards NGOs more than politics," he commented. In his view, the 2009 local elections are a good starting-point on the road to encouraging women to become involved in politics.

"What party leaders have said regarding the importance of women's representation differs from the statistical reality," said Fouad Madani, a professor of political relations. "All parties select candidates who will guarantee them the maximum possible number of seats. Few women meet this criterion. As a result, they are put at the bottom of electoral lists."

Those female candidates who are recruited have difficulty establishing themselves within their parties, he added. However, "first and foremost, it is necessary to convince the public, which still believes that men should be leaders, so that political parties will be encouraged to give women the standing that they deserve."