Benkirane admits gender disparity in Moroccan society

Moroccan Prime Minister, Abdelilah Benkirane Rabat – Raja Battaoui At the monthly session of the house of councilors, Moroccan Prime Minister Abdelilah Benkirane admitted that the country's women faced a lack of equal employment opportunities. The Islamist leader presented data which show that the representation rate of Moroccan women in the labour force was less than quarter of the country’s population.
Benkirane added that unemployment was more widespread among women, with percentages ranging between 10 and 11 percent in comparison with men, which didn’t exceed 8.5 percent.
The number of women in higher positions in public services was indicated at 15 percent, in addition to 14.7 percent in diplomatic positions.
The Prime Minister said the under-representation was due to "the inability of women to change their typical image in the collective imagination of Morocco, which still refuses to give women decision-making positions".
Benkirane also said he intended to go ahead with governmental reforms where gender equality would be promoted.  Financial support for single mothers and injecting more funds in the Family Fund “Takaful” for families in need, are some of the moves expected to be announced, along with expanding the programme of the National Initiative for Human Resource Development to attract women as key partners in the national development process.
Benkirane also cited the importance of organisations, political parties and individual initiatives working side by side with the state institutions in helping uplift Moroccan women through long term programmes aiming to confront illiteracy, poverty, physical and psychological violence, while providing suitable conditions for women in the labour market.
He referred to a “spring of equality between Moroccan, men and women” and stated that Morocco had achieved significant progress in the education sector compared to other Arab countries.
Meanwhile, the president of the Federation of Diplomatic League for Women’s rights, Fawzia Assouli, said in her first comment after Benkirane’s statement that“the confessions of the Prime Minister are only the tip of the iceberg".
Assouli said: "The suffering of Moroccan women will not be mitigated by words, and good intentions alone are not enough. They should be paired with a serious and urgent plan."
"Benkirane should have invested the time he spent talking about women’s issues in presenting an official apology from the parliament to all Moroccan women for offending them through a channel viewed by millions, which indicates that the PM himself is still a prisoner of the cultural heritage that despised women, and makes them second class citizens," she added.
Assouli concluded saying that she and member organisations of the “Women's Spring for Moroccan Democracy” campaign will not rely on measures by a government that has consented the limitation of the percentage of ministerial representation of women.