Seven Moroccan women appointed to head strategic ministries

2007-10-17

Some see the appointments of seven female ministers as a form of compensation for the overall decrease in women's representation in parliament following the September 7th elections.

By Sarah Touahri for Magharebia in Rabat – 17/10/07

[Sarah Touahri] Yasmina Baddou will lead the State Secretariat for Families, Children and the Disabled

Prime Minister Abbas El Fassi's newly-announced government includes a record number of female ministers. A total of seven will lead ministries ranging from energy to culture, compared with only two in the previous government.

The seven women who have been appointed will lead key departments. Yasmina Baddou will lead the State Secretariat for Families, Children and the Disabled at the Ministry of Health. Amina Benkhadra has been appointed head of the Ministry of Energy, Mines, Water and the Environment, which she ran for a short time in 1997. The biggest comeback is by Olympic champion Nawal Moutawakil, who has been appointed to a sector she knows well – youth and sports.

Well-known for her many years for activism in support of women's issues, pharmacist Nouzha Skelli has been offered the Ministry of Social Development.

Actress and director Thourya Jabrane has been appointed head of the culture ministry. Best known for tackling social issues in her work, she is a graduate of the National Conservatory and started her career in 1972 in the Maamora theatre company.

Public education will also be led by a woman, Latifa Labida, who began her teaching career in 1973 and previously served as Secretary of State to the Minister of National Education.

The seventh post was given to Director of National Radio and former Director of the Higher Institute for Information and Communications Latifa Akherbach. Akherbach will head up the State Secretariat to the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Co-operation.

None of the twenty-eight previous governments included so many women. The greatest number was recorded by the re-structured administration of Prime Minister Abdellatif Filali in 1997, when four women were named as ministers. Ultimately they remained in office for only a few months, until March 1998. On this date, two women were appointed to the government: Aïcha Belarbi as Secretary of State and Moroccan Ambassador to the Council of the European Union and the European Community, and Nezha Chekrouni as Secretary of State with responsibility for the disabled. In September 2000, she was the only one to remain in the government.

Three women belonged to the November 7th, 2002 government. Yasmina Baddou led the State Secretariat for Families, Solidarity and Social Action. Nezha Chekrouni had retained her post as minister with responsibility for Moroccans living abroad. Secretary of State for Literacy and Informal Education Najima Rhozali lost her post in June 2004.

"Moroccan women are playing their part in the economic, political and social development of the country," women's rights activist Samira Mrabet told Magharebia. "They deserve to be recognised. In fact, thanks to the desire of various institutions to build a modern and democratic society, [women] have already passed important milestones politically and socially speaking."

Political science professor Mohamed Jamoumi said the decision to boost the number of women in the government shows the desire at the highest levels to recognise women’s skills and the place they should occupy in Moroccan society. "This decision is historic and makes up for poor representation at the parliamentary level, which is reduced since the previous elections."

The Moroccan public has welcomed the increase, although some commented on the profiles of the women appointed. "It is a good move to appoint so many women to the government, but they should have chosen someone with a different profile for the culture ministry," said Ahmed Hassimi, a bank worker.

Selma Farhani agreed. "I hope these women will work to create a good image of themselves in the public eye, even if some of them could have been replaced by others. For example, I see Latifa Akharbache running the communications ministry rather than foreign affairs," she told Magharebia.