Moroccan group voices women's demands in upcoming elections

01/08/2007

In the lead-up to Morocco's September elections, a new project has begun to educate and organise women to press forward with their agendas. The Social Movement for Equality and Citizenship's "Responsible Citizen Project" reiterates the common demands put forth by women, to compel voters to action.

By Imane Belhaj for Magharebia in Casablanca – 01/08/2007

[Imane Belhaj] Moroccan women say the upcoming elections are pivotal to their push for rights and protections.

The Social Movement for Equality and Citizenship, a movement established by the Democratic League for Women's Rights in Morocco, has put forth a new project in which it calls on Moroccan women to vote responsibly during the coming legislative elections and to defend their demands. The movement named the project, which receives support from the Fund for Supporting Equality between the Sexes, the "Responsible Citizen Project".

During a press conference held Friday (July 27th) in Casablanca, League President Fouzia Assouli said the project arose out of women's critical need to elevate their situation, especially illiterate or rural women who still lack many rights and necessities, circumstances which further degrade their social and economic position.

The project—which was presented to components of civil society, unions and political parties in the hopes that it would be incorporated into those groups' electoral programmes for the September 7th elections—voices a number of basic economic, social and legal demands that would benefit women.

The legal demands call for adherence to international standards protecting women from discrimination, exclusion and violence; putting in place the Social Solidarity Fund stipulated under the new family law to benefit women divorcees and their children, the enforcement of alimony rulings; and the adoption of stricter laws to combat violence against women.

The project's social and economic demands call for reducing unemployment among women by preparing them to enter the labour market; offering low-interest loans and marketing assistance to women contractors in order to increase the successfulness of their projects; combating poverty and marginalisation among women; incorporating traditionally female professions into the labour law; establishing day care programmes for the children of working women; and creating a fund to support women's co-operatives.

The project also calls for mandatory education for girls, the levying of fines against those who prevent girls from attending school, universal reproductive health services to prevent sexually transmitted diseases and death during childbirth and resources to fight illiteracy.

Assouli said the Responsible Citizen Project is expanding its reach into more remote regions of Morocco by way of the Democratic League for Women's Rights' annual convoys and through its experience at the League's centres for combating illiteracy as well as centres for counselling, legal guidance and psychological support located in a dozen regions of Morocco.

"It is no longer acceptable in our modern Morocco for us to see the backwardness and problems that Moroccan women still experience," Assouli told Magharebia. "For the poverty rate among women is at 19.2%, and more than 52% of the urban poor are women as are 50% of the rural poor. The illiteracy rate among women in remote rural areas exceeds 90%. Additionally, there is the absence of protection against economic, social, psychological and physical violence. Thus, the league decided to urge women to join together in defending their legitimate demands. I consider the coming elections pivotal in pressing for these demands, which empower [women] to surmount difficult conditions and assume an active part in human development and democracy building."

The Social Movement for Equality and Citizenship is organising meetings and convoys in cities and rural areas to inform the public about their programme. The group is also preparing to distribute audiotapes in 14 regions, containing the text of its demands in all Arabic and Amazigh dialects.