Women in Morocco
Women in Morocco
- Fatima SadiqiFatima SadiqiDepartment of Middle Eastern Studies, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Doha, Qatar
Summary
Women in Morocco have a rich, complicated history. In the past, they expressed themselves through creating designs in rug-weaving and related arts such as cloth making, tattoos, jewelry, collecting and safeguarding oral literature, building one of the first universities in the world, and serving their communities as political leaders and saints. In the postcolonial era, women have continued to produce oral and written texts. Such texts have been used to resist colonization; others have called for girls’ and women’s education and participation in politics. Since Morocco gained independence, women have continued to be present in the public sphere and have built one of the strongest women’s-rights movement in the Arab world by constantly adapting to historical, political, and social changes and endeavoring to network beyond ideological and political “redlines” that have characterized postcolonial Morocco.
Using approaches that may be termed secular, Islamic, or a combination of both, Moroccan women organized themselves in the public sphere and advocated for social, economic, legal, and political reforms. In this way, they succeeded in marking important eras in modern Morocco and became crucial players in the public landscape. In the aftermath of the 2010–2011 uprisings that shook North Africa and other Middle Eastern countries, Moroccan women have produced new forms of movements and activism and given new meanings to their actions. More importantly, they are reinventing their identities, using new strategies and methodologies, and continuing the creativity and resilience that has marked their long history of agency. With the 2011 formalization of Amazigh (Berber) language as an official language in Morocco, women’s ancestral knowledge has come full circle not only as part of Moroccan women’s voices but as a central feature of Morocco’s homegrown identity.
Subjects
- Women’s History