Moroccan women push for more positive political involvement

22/01/2006

Moroccan women's organizations are calling for a revision of the constitution to encourage political participation among women.

By Mawassi Lahcen for Magharebia in Casablanca

[File] Sabah Chraibi is a fervent advocate of women's participation in politics

At a round table discussion organized last week in Casablanca entitled "Political participation among women: the democratic stakes," Moroccan women's associations launched an appeal for constitutional revision. They want to see greater political integration of women and are demanding that the principle of "equality of the sexes," as stipulated by the constitution, be replaced by the principle of "positive discrimination in favour of women".

To advance their claims, women's groups have started preparing a co-ordinated network that will create a common strategy leading up to the 2007 elections.

The experience of the last elections, which took place in 2002, still reverberates among women as 35 women were elected to parliament. This was due to the application of the national list, a feature that set aside a quota of 30 seats for women in the first chamber of parliament.

However, local elections, in which no such quota system existed, were a total failure for women. Out of some 6,000 candidates only 127 women were elected.

Why was there such a difference in voting results?

Khadiga Errebbah, president of the Moroccan Women's Democratic Association (ADFM), says the crushing defeat in local elections may have been the result of a political backlash caused by the application of the national list.

"In the local elections, protests were voiced about the anti-constitutional nature of the women-only list, which was considered contrary to the principle of equality in the constitution," Errebbah says. "And the consequence: women could not win. Especially as they were either shown at the ends of the lists – priority being given to men – or that they were put forward by their organizations in regions where the party was not represented."

This is why women are now calling for "the constitutionalisation of the principle of positive discrimination."

For her part, Habiba Ezahi from the Women's Rights Defence Association says the next elections will be the first that Morocco has organized since the application of personal status laws. She is proposing to use this progress to give further support to women's participation in politics.

"Nevertheless," Ezahi says, "the political parties' negative attitude in this respect makes it necessary to open up a serious dialogue between women's associations and political parties so we can arrive at a contractual programme to promote political participation among women."

Sabah Chraibi from The Moroccan Association for the Promotion of Women's Enterprise (ESPOD) has taken a more wide-ranging stance.

"The concept of political participation among women must be seen in general terms and not limited simply to receiving political mandates and accessing government posts," Chraibi says. She also underlined the need for women's associations to train and advise young women who want to be involved in politics.