Moroccan movement seeks to grant woman one-third of parliamentary seats

2006-11-19

Moroccan associations involved in a movement to increase women's parliamentary representation to one-third after the 2007 elections will be guided by a recent study identifying remaining obstacles to women attaining leadership positions. The study preparer feels a change in societal mentality is necessary for the changes to occur.

By Imane Belhaj for Magharebia in Casablanca – 19/11/06

[Getty Images] Women of the Justice and Development Party (Islamic Party)

The movement to increase women's parliamentary representation in Morocco will be helped by a Democratic Association of Moroccan Women study released on November 7th that cited key points in the struggle of the women's movement since 1992 and identified remaining obstacles to women attaining leadership positions.

The study is part of a two-year partnership programme with the EU providing for the increase of women in leadership positions. The partnership includes a training programme for women wishing to run in legislative elections.

Association President Rachida Tahiri told Magharebia, "With this study, we want to put in place a framework to consider what mechanisms will improve this representation. We are also aiming to make the issue of women's political representation part of the debate concerning strengthening and broadening of democracy, that is to say, to integrate it into a framework of thought and discussion about the electoral process and then to work to build on what has been gained by the quota system, which has given Moroccan women the right to 10% representation in the Chamber of Deputies."

According to Nazha Skalli, parliamentary deputy for the Party of Progress and Socialism, the study is part of a long series of initiatives seeking to increase women's political representation.

"This work comes at a crucial time when Parliament [began] discussion of the Electoral Law on November 14th. It will become apparent that women must be present at this debate, have their voices heard and their demands communicated. We as parliamentarians will strive to communicate this message and this demand which leads into the whole question of reforming representational democracy, which I believe is currently in crisis. I think that female participation gives democracy the opportunity to address the concerns of citizens and get politics closer to the family, the street and society in general," she told Magharebia.

A movement to grant one-third of parliamentary seats to women in 2007 was formed in June. Its membership includes 34 Moroccan women's associations.

The movement will mobilise to resist all forms of discrimination against women and inequality in its liaisons with decision makers and political leaders to review ways to ensure greater involvement of women in the 2007 elections. It will also appeal to the media in spreading its cause.

Mohammad V University law professor Mohamed Mouaquit, who prepared the study for the Democratic Association of Moroccan Women, states political representation of women in Morocco "does not mean the number of seats designated to women as it might seem, but basically it means a profound change in mentality, which requires emphasising male domination of women as a particular form of the power relationships within societies. It also means working within a social-type framework to help deploy all means to oppose inequality and discrimination and to validate the importance of female solidarity in this struggle to achieve equality, democracy and citizenship."