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EUROMED ROLE OF WOMEN IN ECONOMIC LIFE PROGRAMME

ANALYSIS OF THE ECONOMIC SITUATION OF WOMEN IN MOROCCO

This programme is funded by the European Union

This programme is implemented by the British Council

This publication has been produced with the assistance of the European Union. The content of this publication is the sole responsibility of its author and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the European Union

Analysis of the Economic Situation of Women in Morocco

TABLE OF CONTENTS
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Executive summary Introduction Part 1: General profile of the situation of women in Morocco
1.1 Access to human capital

3 5 5
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Part 2: Analytical framework: Structural determinants of the economic participation of women in Morocco
2.1 Social relations based on gender and women’s participation in economic life 2.2 Social class disparities 2.3 The role of the State and the influence of development strategies 2.4 Institutional dimensions of women’s economic participation

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12 13 13 14

Part 3: Activity rate, professional gender segregation and women’s unemployment
3.1 Activity rate of women 3.2 Double segregation continues to characterize women’s employment 3.3 Women’s unemployment 3.4 Wage discrimination

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17 19 27 29

Part 4: Female work in the informal sector, poverty, micro-credit and female enterprise
4.1 Female work in the informal sector and strategies of survival 4.2 Feminization of poverty in Morocco 4.3 Micro-credit as a means to combat female poverty 4.4 Female enterprises in Morocco, a recent phenomenon

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32 35 37 38

Conclusion Bibliography

41 42

This analysis was commissioned by the Euromed Role of Women in Economic Life Programme: an EC-funded Programme for the MEDA region to enhance women’s economic participation. © Euromed Role of Women in Economic Life Programme, 2006

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Analysis of the Economic Situation of Women in Morocco

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Participation of Moroccan women in economic life is an essential step towards gender equality, a process that started at the beginning of the 1990s. Hence the interest in tracing a general profile of the situation of women in Morocco before addressing their access to economic rights. During recent years, there have been significant developments in relation to women’s access to human capital. The education of young girls improved significantly, registering a rise of 59% during the decade 1993-2003, compared to 27% for boys. The real progress achieved by Morocco in terms of equal access to education for both sexes is, above all, quantitative. The progress in terms of qualitative aspects is much slower, especially regarding the dissemination of a culture of equality through school curricula and practices. In terms of the right to health, maternal mortality continues to be an alarming problem. On the political level, the adoption of a national list reserved for female candidates allowed 35 women to be elected to Parliament, thus elevating Morocco to the position of one of the most advanced Arab countries in this area. This progress remains fragile and the quota system has not been institutionalized by the organic law in the chamber of representatives. In addition, the access of women to power is hampered in other areas (public service, female representation within the government, etc). The legal plan included the adoption of a New Family Code in 2003 which constituted major progress towards women’s autonomy. The New Code, which came as a result of the long struggle carried out by the women’s movement, the democratic transition initiated in 1998 and the political good-will of the King have brought about major innovations. The most significant achievements are the equality and co-responsibility of both spouses, equality in terms of minimum age for marriage, fixed at 18 for men and women, the strict regulation of polygamy, subject henceforth to draconian conditions that made it practically impossible, the ending of the mandatory matrimonial guardianship for women, as well as the division of goods acquired during marriage between the spouses. The phenomenon of violence against women appears to be widespread within Moroccan society. The result of social, psychological and economic factors, this violence takes place inside the family as much as in the public sphere (sexual harassment, violence against women in the workplace in nonregulated sectors). The impact of violence on women can be enormous; it results in less productivity at work, limited participation in the community, loss of self-confidence and disintegration of the family, and most importantly the right for women to live a life free from violence. In short, it is evident that the general profile of the situation of Moroccan women is one of contrast, progress made in social, legal and political issues, although positive, still hides some inadequacies, revealing that much remains to be done to achieve gender equality. This situation is mirrored in women’s participation in economic life. The level of integration of women in economic life depends on structural factors such as social relations based on gender, disparities between social classes and the strategic and institutional role of the State. In Morocco, the socio-cultural context continues to convey the image of an “unproductive” and/or dependent woman. The shaping of gender-based relations starts at childhood, when boys and girls are directed to adopt different family roles. The State, in turn, has an important influence on the economic situation of women, especially since the beginning of the 1980s, after the decision to adopt a strategy for integration into world markets, and the implementation of an extensive programme of structural reform. However, the State continues to suffer from the absence of a coherent approach in the form of a real action plan for gender equality, and of a national mechanism of coordination as defined by the Beijing Platform for Action. The impact of the above-mentioned structural factors is particularly important for women’s economic activity rate, the segregation they face in the workplace, their involvement in activities in the informal sector, the feminization of poverty and the development of female entrepreneurship. The activity rate of women remains low (28.4% in 2004); its evolution shows the persistent gap between men and women, which was stagnant at the rate of 48.9% from 1983 to 1992, and was only raised to 49.1% in 2004. The activity rate of women is higher in rural areas (39.3 %).

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Analysis of the Economic Situation of Women in Morocco

There are two dimensions to the segregation which characterizes women’s employment. It can be horizontal (according to the type of activities undertaken respectively by men and women) or vertical (the hierarchical position of men and women within each activity). In terms of employment, there is a concentration of urban female population in the service sector (56.7 % in 2002), followed by the industry sector (36.3 % of the industrial workforce are women). The feminization of industrial employment is an outcome of the relative development of exportoriented industries (especially the garment industry). The positive impact of free trade and foreign direct investments on women’s employment needs to be put into perspective, due to continuing gender-based wage discriminations, the serious lack of decent working conditions and the precariousness of jobs. The vertical segregation is demonstrated in the confinement of women to clerical duties and subordinate tasks, and access to managerial positions seems unattainable. Unemployment impacts more on women than men and there has been an increase in the number of women who are unemployed. An analysis of this trend shows that the average duration of unemployment is longer for women than for men. In terms of qualifications, the duration of unemployment is much more significant among women with higher levels of education than among their male counterparts. Employment in the informal sector represents nearly a quarter (23.2 %) of non-agricultural female employment compared to 41.1% for men. Participation of women in the informal sector reflects long-term tendencies, such as the lack of professional mobility of women due to their low standards of education and competencies, poverty which allows women a limited access to the markets of products and the factors of production, as well as the influential constraints induced by the reproductive role of women. The exercise of economic activity in the informal sector corresponds to survival strategies and the struggle against the feminization of poverty. The phenomenon of women as heads of households seems to illustrate the process of feminization of poverty. In 2002, households run by women represented nearly 20% of total households in Morocco (19.6%), whereas they represented only 11.2 % in 1980 and 15.3% in 1992. This category of households reveals a situation of vulnerability, rather than an actual assumed emancipation. The development of micro-credit in Morocco has been particularly useful in the struggle against female poverty. The results are nevertheless mitigated because of the inability of poor women to meet the requirements of this type of financing and of the difficulty to quantitatively measure the impact on poverty. Women’s entrepreneurship is a recent phenomenon in Morocco (less than one woman out of 100 in 2001 compared to 2.7 % of men). It is usually the case of small recently established companies, operating in the services sector. The last ten years have seen the emergence of women’s entrepreneurship in Morocco as a result of an environment more favourable for private initiatives the acquisition of a higher level of education and competencies and the willingness of women to claim their place in the world of business, previously largely dominated by men. However, women entrepreneurs encounter multiple obstacles of an administrative, financial, human and social nature. In summary, the extension of informal female activities, and the increase of the feminization of poverty demonstrate the precariousness of the socio-economic situation of a considerable proportion of the female population. These facts demand that public policies implemented in Morocco should be reconsidered - especially in economic and social dimensions with a special emphasis on the structural reform programmes, insofar as they have to date had a negative influence on the status of women.

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Analysis of the Economic Situation of Women in Morocco

INTRODUCTION
Women’s economic participation represents both a challenge and an opportunity for Morocco. It is a challenge in that it requires removing multiple and varied obstacles which continue to block the integration of women in economic life. It is also an opportunity in as much as the mobilization of human potential of women who are more than half of the Moroccan population, is capable of generating more wealth, accelerating the economic growth and thus contributing to the well-being of all Moroccan society, both men women. If it is true that important progress has been made regarding Moroccan women’s participation in economic life as either agent or beneficiary since independence, it is also the case that much gender discrimination continues to characterize this participation. This report is devoted to the analysis of the various dimensions of women’s economic participation, as well as to the difficulties and gender inequalities that characterize it. This report is divided into four parts. The first part provides a general profile of the situation of women in Morocco, particularly by emphasizing the achievements made in terms of social, political and civil rights and their limits. The second part presents an analysis of the structural determinants that explain the significance and the limits of Moroccan women’s participation in economic life. The third part presents the activity rate of women, professional gender segregation and the problems of unemployment, and the last part refers to women working in the informal sector, micro-credit and female enterprises, and reference to continuing issues for poverty which directly affect women.

PART 1: GENERAL PROFILE OF THE SITUATION OF WOMEN IN MOROCCO
Alongside the history of independent Morocco, the issue of gender equality and women’s empowerment has never attracted as much interest as during the decade 1993-2003. Three important events attest to this fact, namely: the campaign for one million signatures for the reform of Mudawwana (Personal Status Code), the heated debate concerning the Plan of the Integration of Women to Development as well as the adoption of the New Family Code at the end of 2003. This shows that the question of women's rights received an impetus that is demonstrated in the achievements in socio-economic, political and legal arenas. However, the progress made could not hide the multiple gender discrimination that still persists and prevents Moroccan women from enjoying equal political, social, economic and cultural rights as men. The first part of this report will outline progress in these areas as well as areas of gender discrimination which still exists and is endured by women in Morocco.

1.1 Access to human capital
The right to education
During recent years three important events have contributed to the establishment of this right:
•

The advent of the government of alternation in 1998, which was committed to reduce the enormous social deficit, accumulated by Morocco as a result of the implementation of structural reform programmes. The development of the National Charter of Education and Training (July 1999) as a framework for education system reform, which aimed to render quality education equally accessible for both sexes.

•

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Analysis of the Economic Situation of Women in Morocco

•

The adoption by Parliament (March 2000) of the law instituting a compulsory nine-year period of fundamental education for both sexes, which should accelerate progress towards gender equality in terms of access to education.

As shown in Table 1 the number of pupils in the three cycles of education, fundamental 1, fundamental 2 (known as collegial) and secondary increased by almost 40% during the decade 19932003. Female pupils benefited the most, reaching 59% during this period compared to 27% for boys. However, the most recent statistics show that Morocco has not yet achieved generalization of primary education (education net rate of 92.1% in 2002-03), and girls continue to be subject to discrimination, especially in rural areas where the education net rate does not exceed 82.2%, against the total figure of 87%, see Table 2 overleaf. Gender differences in secondary education - 1st cycle - are greater in urban areas (education net rate for girls of 46.6% against 48.2% in primary education), especially in rural areas where more than two out of three girls do not have access to college (education net rate of only 31.8% against 44.7% in primary education). In spite of the significant progress made by Morocco regarding education in general, and that of girls in particular, it seems that there are still objections and resistance to providing a guarantee of equal rights to education for both girls and boys. The analysis of the determinants of gender-based education shows that there is discrimination in availability of education, as well as in the operation of the establishments, and even in the socioeconomic and cultural environment. Regarding the former, there are very few schools in rural areas, and limited educational and sanitation facilities. Schools are distant, which limits the access of rural pupils to the first cycle of secondary education. Constraints related to the external environment lie in the insufficiency of basic infrastructures in rural areas, the high costs of education (school supplies, clothing, transport, etc) financed directly by the families, and the opportunity cost resulting from the absence of children as generators of extra income. Socio-cultural factors are related to the perception of the status of women within society, where girls’ education is considered as an element of devaluation in the “marriage market”, and a disturbance to social cohesion. The real progress achieved by Morocco in terms of equal access to education for both sexes is, still, quantitative. The progress in terms of qualitative aspects is much slower, especially regarding the promotion of a culture of equality through school curricula and practices. Certain women’s associations have noted that the results and recommendations put forward at the time of the analysis of school textbooks were not made available to those in charge of establishing the new curricula. Therefore there was no opportunity to consider the terms of reference to address the issue of the devaluation of the image of women and stereotyping perpetuated in educational materials. Nearly 48% of the population was recorded as illiterate in 1999, with women still representing the largest proportion of this statistic (62% of women are illiterate), it is more prevalent in rural areas (68%) than in urban areas (34%). Rural women are more exposed to this disadvantage (84%), which is more than eight women out of ten, compared to less than 45% in the urban environment.

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Analysis of the Economic Situation of Women in Morocco

Table 1: Increase in the number of pupils in public education between 1993 and 2003 1993-1994 % 1997-1998 % 2003-2004 % Increase 1993/94100 54 46 39% 27% 59%

Total Boys Girls

3,995,517 2,352,741 1,642,776

100 59 41

4,444,358 2,542,464 1,901,894

100 57 43

5,554,821 2,995,158 2,559,663

Source: A. Chaker, contribution to the collective work “Féminin Masculin”, Fes, Morocco, 2004, according to statistics provided by the Ministry for National Education

Table 2: Net rate of education (in%) for children aged 6 to 11, including all cycles 1993-1994 Total Girls Rural areas Girls 57.8 49.5 43.2 30.1 2002-2003 92.1 87.0 82.2

Table 3: Pupils according to gender (public primary education) 2004-2005 Total of pupils (1) Female (2) (1) / (2) 3,757,932 1,739,640 46.2 2000-2001 3,664,404 1,668,291 45.5

Source: Annual Statistics, Morocco, 2005

Table 4: Secondary education, 1st cycle (public sector) 1993-1994 % of girls in urban areas % of girls in rural areas 41.2 22.7 2002-2003 46.6 31.8

Table 5: Secondary education, 2nd cycle (public sector) 1993-1994 % of girls 42.4 2003-2004 47.1

(*) Recent official statistics show a relative decrease in the rate of illiteracy, which dropped by eight points to 40% of the population. However, it is difficult to assess the impact of this decrease in women, due to the absence of gender disaggregated data.

The right to health
Considerable achievements have been recorded in maternal and child health: lower fertility rates, increase of life expectancy at birth, progress in terms of family planning and assistance in childbirth (Tables 6 to 9). Nevertheless, spatial and gender discrimination continue to characterize access to health services in Morocco. This is particularly the case in maternal mortality. The reforms made in this area have had very little effect (the death rate dropped only one point, from 228 per 100,000 live births in 1997 to 227 in 2003). The contraceptive prevalence rate increased, but the pill remains the most used contraceptive (64%) against 16% for long-term contraceptive means. The disparities between urban (66%) and rural areas (60%) also persist at this level. The decrease in the fertility rate (reduction of the average number of children born to women during their childbearing years from 3.1 in 1997 to 2.5 in 2003) is not only due to the use of contraceptives, although this is very important. Other factors to be taken into account include increased access to education, a rise in the average age at first marriage and entry of women to the labour market. The quality of reproductive health services is deficient in more remote areas, there are inadequate medical facilities, faulty equipment, lack of drugs and a lack of trained medical staff. There has also been an increase in confirmed cases of AIDS, which reached 1316 at the end of 2003.

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Analysis of the Economic Situation of Women in Morocco

Table 6: Synthetic index of fertility Urban + rural Rural Urban 2.5 3.1 2.1

Table 7: Life expectancy at birth according to gender and area of residence 1997 M Urban Rural Urban + rural 70.1 65 67.1 W 74.4 66.9 7.7 Total 72.2 65.9 68.8 M 71.6 66.5* 68.7 2004 W 76.1 68.4* 73 Total 73.8 67.4* 70.8

(*) Numbers from 2002

Table 8: Contraceptive prevalence rate (%) 1992 Urban Rural Total 55% 32% 42% 2003-2004 66% 60% 63%

Table 9: % of assisted delivery by public health personnel 1992 Urban Rural Total 59% 13% 28% 2003-2004 83% 38% 61%

Table 10: Maternal mortality rate (per 100,000 live births) 1992 Urban Rural Total 284 362 332 2003-2004 186 267 227

Political rights
In spite of the fact that political rights of women have been recognized by successive constitutions of Morocco, particularly the right to vote and eligibility to vote, the presence of women as elected representatives is insignificant, and there has been virtually no improvement over the past fifty years. The situation has only changed following the advent of the government of alternation, and the mobilization of the women’s movement. This has resulted in an agreement between political parties to adopt a national list reserved for female candidates which enabled the election of 35 women to Parliament for the first time in political history of independent Morocco, see Table 11. This important democratic achievement has made it possible for Morocco to become one of the most advanced Arab countries in this area with a 10% representation of women in Parliament. However, this progress remains fragile, as the quota system has not been institutionalized by the organic law in the Chamber of Representatives. Therefore, at the local elections in 2003, without any specific provision for affirmative action, the representation level of women fell to less than 1% (Table 12). This shows that there is still strong resistance especially as represented in the privileges vested in the male political elite.

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Analysis of the Economic Situation of Women in Morocco

Similar barriers and attitudes have almost meant women’s access to power is blocked in other areas of public life. This is the case in public offices where women occupy only 10% to 12% of posts as directors or heads of department. 1997 saw the entry of the first four women (ministers) to government. Since then, the number of female ministers in the various cabinets in Morocco remains minimal, varying between one and three. Moreover, the portfolio entrusted to women is generally that of Secretaries of State or delegated Ministers in social departments with limited authority and financial resources.
Table 11: Increase of the number of candidates and the winners in legislative elections (Chamber of Representatives) Candidates Election years 1993 1997 Number 36 87 269 local lists 2002 697 national lists 30 % 1.7 2.6 0.05 Number 2 2 5 10.7 Elected % 0.6 0.6

Table 12: Increase of the number of candidates and the winners in community elections Years 1992 1997 2003 Candidates 1086 1651 6024 Candidates 91,954 102,292 122,069 1.62 % Total candidatures Elected 75 84 127 Total seats 22,282 24,253 23,689 % 0.33 0.34 0.56

The New Family Code
It is no exaggeration that the New Family Code (NCF) adopted by the Moroccan Parliament in January 2004 represented a radical departure from the way in which the law governed relations between women and men in the private sphere. Whereas the old Personal Status Code was designed to fit a hierarchical and traditional concept of relations within the family, the husband being the head of the household who provided for the needs of his wife in return for her obedience. The NCF is designed to ensure equality, partnership and mutual respect between the two partners. The New Code which is a result of the long struggle by the women’s movement, the democratic transition initiated in 1998 and the political good-will of the King, has brought major innovations of which the most important are as follows:
•

equality and co-responsibility of both spouses:
• •

both spouses are henceforth both responsible for the family the wife’s duty to obey her husband was eliminated

• • • •

reinforcement of the effective provisions of the NCF which stipulate that the public ministry is party to the implementation of the provisions of the new text equality in terms of minimum age for marriage, fixed at 18 for men and women strict regulation of polygamy, subject henceforth to the authorization of judges and to draconian conditions that make it practically impossible ending of the coercive matrimonial guardianship for women

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Analysis of the Economic Situation of Women in Morocco

• •

regulation of divorce, and the opening of new options for women (consensual divorce; and equal accessibility to “Chiqaq” separation, for both spouses in case of major disagreement) the division of goods acquired during marriage (the NCF, although adopting the principle of separation of goods that already existed in the old Code, allows the spouses to reach an agreement, through a document signed at the wedding, to define a framework for the custody of goods during marriage reinforcement of mothers’ right to custody rights of the child as set out in a new chapter of the NCF that offers equal treatment for boys and girls, through specific provisions, in conformity with the International Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which Morocco has already acceded.

• •

However, these successes in the struggle for gender equality and legal autonomy of women can not conceal the limitations of the NCF. The most important of these limitations are: maintenance of polygamy, in spite of the strong restrictions imposed upon its exercise by men, maintenance of unilateral divorce by the husband (repudiation) as well as divorce in exchange for compensation, optional division of goods acquired during marriage and the persistence of inequalities regarding inheritance.

The image of women in the media
Moroccan women are visible in all spheres of public and social life; nevertheless, the image presented by the media remains fundamentally conservative. Either at the cinema or on television, women are presented one dimensionally. If a woman is emancipated and rebellious, she is perceived as a prostitute, promiscuous and socially condemned. If she is a young girl, she is sweet, she maintains pure relationships with her friends and her only dream is to get married. If she is a married woman, she obeys and respects her husband, looks after the children and is in charge of the household. The advertising agencies, generally perceived as not adhering to a conservative view, actively perpetuate the traditional image of the division of labour. Women in commercials are often doing the laundry or cooking. Under the pretext of targeting specific customers (housewives, “maids”), they continue to show women in an image of servitude. Over the past few years, with the new emphasis in Morocco on the issue of gender equality, women have started to use the media to make their voice heard. Today, magazines and programmes are aimed at women; their concerns are more diversified and have a different perspective. In 2003, the number of female journalists in the Moroccan media was 459, that is to say 23.57%. Female journalists today are in all editorial offices and sometimes, but quite seldom, in decision-making jobs. This is real progress; but it is irrefutable that the media does not reflect a positive image of women being hard-working, capable of taking responsibilities and participating in public life, well-educated and intelligent.

Violence against women
In Morocco, social and psychological research shows that violence against women takes place most frequently in the domestic sphere. Far from being the haven of peace and solidarity described in certain circles, the family is also a cradle of violence” whose victims are women and girls. It is a phenomenon recurrent throughout married life, and violence against women is most frequently manifested as physical violence. A survey carried out by the Democratic Association of Moroccan Women (ADFM)1 which involved 1500 people of both sexes showed that 45.3 % of the subjects believed that it is legitimate for the husband to physically abuse his wife under certain circumstances. But violence can take different forms; psychological and manipulative as well as physical for example refusing to register the birth of the children, kidnapping the children, depriving the mother of the right to access, depriving children of education, refusing to acknowledge a child’s paternity, denying

1. ADFM, the process of examination and evaluation of the progress achieved in the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action (Beijing +10), NGO’s report to Morocco

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Analysis of the Economic Situation of Women in Morocco

children the right to have a passport, abandoning the family, stealing from the family home, violence against children, appropriation of common goods, refusal to provide for the needs of the family. Violence also extends to the public sphere; practices such as sexual harassment in the workplace, violation of freedom of movement and circulation, economic violence against women who work in non-regulated sectors, is common and tolerated. Several factors contribute to the acceptance of this violence against women in Moroccan society. The most important reasons being:
• • • • •

the social concept of the male as the dominant partner in the marital relationship certainly constitutes a determining factor the “crisis of masculinity” in Moroccan society, particularly in the case of husbands who lose one of their most essential sources of power, which is the ability to provide for the family the lack of economic resources and the absence of personal accomplishment, which leads husbands to resort to violence against their wives gender discrimination in terms of education, training, employment and decision-making that reinforces male attitudes of superiority and legitimizes domination arranged marriages which, by denying spouses the freedom of choice, leads to marital conflicts and practices of domestic violence.

The impact of violence on women can be enormous: less productivity at work, limited participation in the life of the community, loss of self-confidence, disintegration of the family unit. The access of women to the labour market can also be a source of domestic violence. Research demonstrated that women who benefit from micro-credit and manage small companies are subject to physical and/or psychological violence that can sometimes lead to divorce. Due to the significance of this social problem, women’s associations and authorities, in partnership with United Nations bodies, initiated education campaigns and established centres for counselling and assisting women who were victims of violence. In 2002, the Ministry of Women’s Conditions, together with all institutional and associative partners, established a national strategy against violence. In spite of the importance of these initiatives, family, marital and sexual violence is a constant part of the daily lives of tens of thousands of women, and is still not recognized as a serious violation of women’s human rights. The idea that violence against women is primarily a domestic and family issue has largely hampered the efforts exerted to analyze it and make it visible, thus limiting the range and impact of established policies and programmes. In addition, the strategy to combat violence announced by the authorities seems to be a project with no future, there is a lack of resources and the absence of political determination and will to tackle a problem of such magnitude. The conclusion of this part of the report is that the general profile of the Moroccan women situation is one of contrast, where the progress made in social, civil, and political issues, despite being positive, still hides areas where much remains to be done to achieve gender equality. This situation also applies to women’s participation in economic life.

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Analysis of the Economic Situation of Women in Morocco

PART 2: ANALYTICAL FRAMEWORK: STRUCTURAL DETERMINANTS OF THE ECONOMIC PARTICIPATION OF WOMEN IN MOROCCO
The participation of women and the level of her integration in the development process in general, and in economic life in particular, depends on a series of structural factors covering political, economic, sociological and cultural levels. These are related in particular to social relations based on gender, disparities between social classes, as well as to the role of the State in strategic and institutional dimensions.

2.1 Social relations based on gender and women’s participation in economic life
Social relations between the sexes, where gender relations dictate all the specific characteristics of a culture, determine the social behaviour of women and men, the relationship between them and the way in which these relations are established by society. This concept represents the relationship between women and men. The approach in terms of social relationships between the sexes makes it possible to move the debate on relations between men and women from the biological to the cultural aspect, thus incorporating the roles and status of the sexes to the social and cultural logic that underpin them. Inequalities between values assigned to men and women are the result of a social process, and do not reflect their real competencies. From an economic perspective, all economic systems have adopted non-reciprocity in their own way. Thus, the traditional representation of women allowed capitalism to achieve a comparatively higher profit on women’s work, by paying them lower wages, and also by considering them the reproductive power of the labour force. Gender prejudice in economy can be associated with three principal themes:
• • •

gender division at work, gender inequality in terms of wages, future prospects and working conditions gender division of ‘the care economy’ (family activities) gender division in terms of costs and benefits in the economic organization of the household.

Non-remunerated work, which is mostly done by women, must also be taken into account. In Morocco, the National Action Plan for the Integration of Women to Development delineates the influence of socio-cultural constraints which considerably limits women’s capacity to participate in economic life. Therefore, the cultural context continues to convey the image of an ‘unproductive’ and/or dependant woman. Rural women, in particular, are in charge of numerous daily tasks, and shoulder a major part of the wellbeing of the family. Yet, statistics show them as ‘inactive’. The maintained cultural constraints generally continue to limit women’s access to public life, jobs and training. Traditions continue to allow men to pressurize their fiancées to quit their jobs. The shaping of gender identities starts at childhood in Morocco. Boys and girls are forced to adopt different family roles. The observation of domestic activities of children aged 7 to 15, for example, shows that young girls, contrary to boys, have to undertake the housework as well as other economic and domestic family activities. The activities done exclusively by women are cleaning, washing and doing the dishes. Despite more obvious tasks which could be undertaken by boys, e.g. wood and water supply, these are still the responsibility of girls.

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Analysis of the Economic Situation of Women in Morocco

This early division of domestic tasks forces conditions upon future choices, as manifested in the poor chances of education offered to girls in rural areas, young girls play a critical role in the families carrying out domestic duties. In terms of women’s access to land, discriminatory social practices are considered the norm, and are so deeply rooted that they have become an unwritten law which governs relations in rural areas, in spite of religion, legislations and rules.

2.2. Social class disparities
Structural gender inequalities are not experienced in the same manner or with the same intensity by all women. In effect, social class differences mean unequal access to the various financial resources (capital, bank credits, land) and immaterial or intangible ones (rights, autonomy and decision-making). Thus, in countries where social disparities are very strong, women who belong to upper classes have a broader range of choices in economic, social, and political issues, and can be regarded as more ‘emancipated’ than those who belong to the lower middle class, workers, poor urban or rural women. In terms of the significant social polarization in Morocco, the level of unequal social gender relations varies according to the social class the woman belongs to, especially regarding her integration in economic life.

2.3 The role of the State and the influence of development strategies
In Morocco, the focal place of the State in the political chessboard – temporal as well as spiritual – renders it the definitive decision-maker on the nature of gender relations which prevail within the society. For a long time, until the advent of King Mohamed VI, the State defended a basically traditional and patriarchal concept of the role of women, through a Code of Personal Status Mudawwana- based on a traditional reading of the fundamentals of Islam. In the meantime, the State, through its policy of promoting female education and family planning, contributed to the emergence of the nuclear family unit, a greater visibility of women in the public sphere, and a stronger awareness of the gender discrimination they suffered, thus contributing to a revisiting the social basis of the traditional patriarchal order. From an economic perspective, the Moroccan State has adopted the approach of integration of women in economic life in areas where charity and welfare prevailed. Emphasis has been placed on income-generating projects focusing on populations vulnerable to poverty. Special attention has also been given to micro-projects, women’s co-operatives and micro-credit. Beyond this vast responsibility for integration of specific categories of women into economic life, the State will has an important role to play in the economic situation of women through the development and implementation of economic policy. From this perspective, there was a clear change in the Moroccan State after the 1980s. Participation in the world market through an export-orientated strategy of industrialization is a priority in the implementation of a structural reform programme aiming to liberalise economy, promote privatization and deregulation, and the need to apply a policy of austerity towards public finance.

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Analysis of the Economic Situation of Women in Morocco

2.4. Institutional dimensions of women’s economic participation
The national mechanism for the advancement of women and gender equality
The Beijing Platform assigned several objectives to national mechanisms for the advancement of women:
• • • • •

analysis and development of policies research public information support for non-governmental organizations the creation of tools for comparative analysis between the sexes.

For several years, there has been an expansion of initiatives in Morocco with the objective of institutionalizing the issue of gender equality. On a governmental level, since 1998, a series of departments have been established, under various names, to take charge of the advancement of women (Secretariat of State for Social Protection, Family and Childhood, delegated Ministry in charge of Women’s status, Family, Childhood and Handicapped Persons, Secretariat of State for Family, Solidarity and Social Action). Focal points in charge of gender-mainstreaming were implemented in certain ministries; statistical gender-specific indicators were established. An Inter-ministerial Commission in charge of the implementation of the National Action Plan for the Integration of Women in the Development process was established in 19992, chaired by the Prime Minister. A Thematic Commission “Women and Development” was implemented during the preparation of the Five-year plan of economic and social development 2000-2004. However, all these initiatives are hampered due to the absence of a global and coherent approach in terms of major political, social and financial decisions. Currently, Morocco has neither an actual Plan of Action for the advancement of women, nor a national mechanism of coordination such as defined by the Beijing Platform for Action. The marginalisation of programmes and actions targeting women in social departments with poor financial and human resources contributes to the development of female identities closely linked to the family, instead of genuinely contributing to the promotion of gender equality as a fundamental human right. In addition, we can see a retrograde step from the progress made over the period 1998-2002, particularly manifested in the cessation of the Inter-ministerial Commission on gendermainstreaming, the demotion of the government department in charge of the family to a “division on women” with no real authority or resources, the inability of the national strategy to achieve the elimination of violence against women, the absence of infrastructure to allow the State to enact international commitments and agreements and the cessation of dialogue and partnership between authorities and women’s associations.

The implementation of International Conventions by the Moroccan State
Morocco’s commitment to the universal standards regarding human rights, expressed in the preamble of the revised Constitution of 1992, was demonstrated by the ratification in 1993 of the Convention for the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The CEDAW was published in the Official Bulletin in 2001, which paved the way to its implementation and dissemination among government bodies, judges and the public in general.

2. National action plan for the integration of women in development, Secretariat of State for Social Protection, 1999

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Analysis of the Economic Situation of Women in Morocco

However, the impact of this ratification is impaired by two aspects:
•

The ambiguity of the Constitution regarding the issue of the precedence of internal and international standards. In effect, the Moroccan Constitution is vague as to the status of ratified international treaties within the internal legal system. This vagueness makes it possible for the legislature not to conform to international commitments, and for magistrates not to refer to them. Morocco ratified the CEDAW with a number of reservations that, by their nature and importance, significantly impair the impact of the act. The reservations made by Morocco are incompatible with the philosophy and goal of the CEDAW.

•

With regard to the Conventions developed by the International Labour Organization (ILO), Morocco has signed 49 of them, including seven that were fundamental and three that had priority status. The Conventions not ratified and/or suggested for ratification are the following:
• •

Convention no 95 on the Protection of Wages and recommendation No 85 which supplements it. Convention no 87 on the freedom of association and the protection of the rights of trade-unions.

The International Convention on decent working conditions was signed and ratified by Morocco in a pilot programme related to the garment industry; and is in the process of implementation (see part 2).

Labour Code and social security
In 2003, Morocco adopted a new Labour Code which constitutes a stride ahead in terms of protection of the rights of minors and working women. The principal innovations are the following:
• • • • • •

women no longer need the authorization of the husband to sign a contract of employment prohibition of any wage discrimination between the sexes for equal work extension of maternity leave to 14 weeks instead of 12 with the possibility of another eight weeks extension in the event of illness harassment is considered a serious offence, and any termination of employment of a woman who was sexually harassed by a superior is considered abusive dismissal an employer can dismiss any person responsible for sexual harassment in the work place definition of cases that do not constitute valid justification for dismissal, and suppression of the internal rules that limit women's rights to a private life, and which considered marriage as a reason for dismissal raising the minimum legal age for admission to employment from 12 to 15 years for minors abolition of salary abatement for male and young female workers.

• •

The new Labour Code, while constituting important progress in terms of protection of the rights of workers, still has several limitations such as:
• •

the new Code does not apply to certain forms of female activities that employ many women such as “domestic servants” the Code is still inequitable with regard to agricultural workers, the majority of whom are women.

Although sexual harassment is considered a serious offence in the new Code, no measure is envisaged in the penal code for its implementation. This significantly impairs the impact of this modification.

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Analysis of the Economic Situation of Women in Morocco

Social security The social security system covers men and women employed in industrial and commercial companies and the liberal professionals of the sector. It also covers fishermen, certain categories of employees in public offices and establishments, as well as people who work in farming and forestry, and workers who have quit paid employment but who pay voluntary insurance. Family allowance is allocated to the whole active population under the social security system, with the exception of agricultural employees. Family benefits are paid to the insured parent with at least one child up to a limit of six children. When both spouses are socially insured, and likely to benefit from family benefits, these are paid exclusively to the husband. However, in the event of dissolution of marriage, this benefit is paid to the parent who has custody of the children. In the event of death of the insured, his widow receives family benefits until the right to family benefits ceases. The working woman who ceases all paid activity to deliver her baby benefits from daily allowances. One of the problems faced by working women is that social security is not paid in the informal sector. An increasingly significant number of workers - very often women - have precarious employment (temporary, at home or independent) which does not entitle her to the payment of social security. Among the female working population, only one out of twenty, benefits from any protection. This demonstrates the urgent need for authorities to provide social security for all workers. Penal Code revision The revision of the Penal Code in 2003 largely met the requirements of women’s associations, in particular the following:
• •

ending of discrimination between men and women regarding the penalty in the event of one spouse murdering the other who is guilty of adultery Incrimination of sexual harassment that is henceforth defined as an abuse of authority.

The Penal Code was also reviewed in 2002 through the abrogation of article 336 that prohibited the wife taking civil action against her husband without preliminary authorization of the judge. Consequently, married women have now been granted access to justice, under the same conditions as their husbands. In conclusion to this second part, it is established that the degree of participation of Moroccan women in economic life largely depends on a combination of structural factors and social relations based on gender, disparities between social classes, the role of the State, economic policies and development strategies all of which play a major role. The impact is particularly significant on the activity rate of women, the professional segregation they face, their involvement in activities in the informal sector, the feminization of poverty, and even the development of female enterprises. The last two parts of this report will analyse these various dimensions regarding economic participation of women.

16

Analysis of the Economic Situation of Women in Morocco

PART 3: ACTIVITY RATE, PROFESSIONAL GENDER SEGREGATION AND WOMEN’S UNEMPLOYMENT
3.1 Activity rate of women
The activity rate is an indicator of the general level of participation in the labour market. The analysis by gender and age group demonstrates how the working population of a country is distributed. The activity rate, as calculated by Moroccan statistics, is the relation, expressed as a percentage, between the active population and the working-age population. In Morocco, the activity rate of women remains low (28.4 % in 2004) as shown in Table 13. The evolution of this rate over the last twenty years shows the persistent gap between men and women that has remained at 48.9% in 1983 and 1992, and 49.1% in 2004. In addition, the activity rate of Moroccan women, having shown a strong upward trend in the 1970s and 1980s, decreased in the 1990s. One of the possible explanations for this phenomenon could be what certain theorists call the “conjunctural flexibility of activity rates”, that is the degradation of the labour market, which can drive certain women, particularly those who have had a lower level of training, to give up seeking work. However, compared to the other two Maghreb countries (Tunisia and Algeria), Morocco has the highest female activity rate in 2004, see Table 13.
Table 13: Increase in the activity rate of men and women (1983-2004) 1983 Men Morocco Algeria Tunisia 81.9 85.1 78.6 Women 34.7 7.6 21.8 Diff M/W 48.9 78.5 56.8 Men 72.1 1998 Women 23.2 Diff M/W 48.9 Men 77.5 80.7 (2000) 73.4 (2000) 2004 Women 28.4 14.7 23.7 Diff M/W 49.1 66.0 49.7

Source: Annual Statistics, Morocco and K Orsini and S Sissoko Gender and employment in the Maghreb countries (Rabat 2003)

It is also necessary to stress the higher activity rate in rural areas (39.3 % compared to 28.4% at national level). The higher participation of rural women in economic activity, compared to urban women, seems to be explained primarily by the traditional mode of organization of the labour market and employment in rural areas, which is based on family exploitation. This is confirmed by a study conducted on the “Socio-economic Situation of Women in Morocco”3. This study reveals that “the relatively strong participation of rural women in economic activity is a result, inter alia, of the narrow articulation between purely economic activities and domestic work in rural areas. The possibility of reconciling economic and domestic activity in rural areas also contributes to the improvement of the activity level of rural women”.

3. Socio-Economic Condition of Women in Morocco, Cered, 2000

17

Analysis of the Economic Situation of Women in Morocco

Table 14: Women’s activity rate in urban and rural areas Urban area Activity rate 20.8% Rural area 39.3% National 28.4%

Source: Annual Statistics, Morocco

Viewed according to the budget-time method, women’s economic participation becomes more important. Thus, it is clear that the activity rate of women aged 15 to 70 amounts to 71.4 % in rural areas and 34.6% in the urban environment, that is to say 50.6% on a national scale. Measured according to the standard method, this rate amounted in 1998 to 31.9 % in the urban environment and 65.1% in rural areas. However, this stronger economic participation of women does not signify an improvement of their socio-economic status, especially because of their unfavourable and heavily constraining working conditions in rural areas, in particular, where women have the degraded status of non-remunerated family help and insignificant incomes. In addition, and because of the “specificity” of women’s professional life, which can be disrupted by a series of family events, it is evident that the curve of activity rate of Moroccan women differs considerably from that of men (Figure 1). For men, the curve is upside down: the activity rate is lower for the younger; it rises as they leave school and enter the labour market and maintains a higher level when they are aged between 25 and 54, and then drops afterwards, as older workers retire from economic activity. Regarding the activity rate of women, it is shown to be lower than that of men, whatever the age. Among women aged 25 and 54 years, not only is this rate lower than that of men, but the curve also takes a totally different shape. During this period of women’s life, they tend to withdraw from the labour market to give birth and raise children. The national survey mentioned above, on the ratio budget:time, confirms the existence of such a break in women’s professional life. This is caused by:
• • • • •

women’s health (18.4% for urban women and 32.1% for rural) pregnancy (respectively 6.9% and 31.6%) marriage and the will of the husband (respectively 6.1% and 11.2%) dismissal and closing down of the establishment they are employed in (respectively 27.3% and 4.3%) difficult conditions of work (respectively 15% and 4.1%).
Table 15: Activity rate and unemployment rate according to gender (2004) (Rural+Urban) Men Activity rate Unemployment rate 77.5 10.6 Women 28.4 11.4 Total 52.6 10.8

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Analysis of the Economic Situation of Women in Morocco

Figure 1: Activity rate by age and gender (2002)

100 Activity rate 80 60 40 20 0 15-19 20-24 25-29 30-34 35-39 40-44 45-49 50-54 55-59 60 + Wom en Men

Age

3.2. Double segregation continues to characterize women’s employment
Gender segregation can be horizontal (according to the type of activities occupied respectively by men and women) or vertical (the hierarchical position of men and women within each activity, particularly in terms of posts of production versus posts of supervision).

Horizontal segregation (or employment by sector)
Worldwide, men occupy the greater part of total employment in industry. On the other hand, the percentage of women in the service sector is, in general, higher than that of men. The concentration of women in the service sector which pays lower salaries seems to be the outcome of obstacles from employers or trade unions due to cultural attitudes that block access to industry. Likewise, industrial employment often requires a certain level of education and training not always available to women. In addition, the service sector offers employment very similar to activities traditionally carried out by women at home: care and education of children, nursing or cleaning. Women are thus considered to be particularly well adapted to these types of work. Finally, it is worth noting that the absence of childcare (nurseries, kindergartens) forces women to work in certain areas of the service sector which offer greater flexibility to enable them to try and reach a balance between employment and family responsibilities. a) Concentration of female employment in the tertiary sector The situation in Morocco does not seem to depart from this rule. Thus, the share of the services activity among the total urban female population amounted to 56.7% in 2002, which represents an increase compared to the previous decade (51.2% in 1992). (Table 16) This situation appears to be illustrated by the stagnation of urban female population channelled towards manufacturing industry, and a significant trend towards services where there is a higher than average female working population, that is to say 2.6% over the decade 1992-2002:
• • • •

retail and wholesale +5.9% hotel trade and restoration +6.8% finance, insurance, real estate and services provided to companies +6.1% transport, storage and communication +7.9%).

In addition, many women employed in the tertiary sector are in poorly paid activities that are a extension of their traditional role at home, such as personal and domestic services, or social services to the community (this kind of economic activity alone accounted for 31.5% of the total urban female working population, and 55.6% of them were in the service sector).

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Analysis of the Economic Situation of Women in Morocco

Women’s participation in the economically active population in urban areas according to economic activity is characterized by a rather strong presence in the manufacturing industry (36.3% of industrial employees), banks, insurance, real-estate business; services provided to companies (33.2%) as well as personal services (39.5%) and services provided to the community (38.4%) (see Table 16).
Table 16: Development of urban population according to gender and sectors of economic activity Sectors of economic
Agriculture, forestry and fisheries Extractive industry Manufacturing industry Water, electricity and gas supplies Construction industry Reparation industry Retail and wholesale trades Hotel trade and restoration Transport, storage, communication Finance, insurance, real estate, services provided to companies Personal and domestic services Social and community services General administration Other activities

Male + Female 1992
125,109

Female c/Yr
7.9%

Male c/Yr
10.2%

2002
224,502

1992
21,128

2002
42,747

1992
103,983

2002
181,755

c/Yr
7.5%

45,420 889,250 33,003 281,890 132,997 665,534 95,916 200,060

31,359 981,084 35,821 439,653 151,274 965,042 153,136 255,063

-3.1% 1.0% 0.9% 5.6% 1.4% 4.5% 6.0% 2.7%

1,492 340,851 2,527 3,781 1,055 49,832 12,998 10,254

1,282 356,412 3,552 6,125 1,215 79,466 21,889 18,337

-1.4% 0.5% 4.1% 6.2% 1.5% 5.9% 6.8% 7.9%

43,928 548,399 30,476 278,109 131,942 615,702 82,918 189,796

30,077 624,672 32,269 433,528 150,059 885,576 131,247 236,726

-3.2% 1.4% 0.6% 5.6% 1.4% 4.4% 5.8% 2.5%

76,087

112,886

4.8%

23,255

37,431

6.1%

52,832

75,455

4.3%

228,910

349,220

5.3%

113,960

137,783

2.1%

114,950

211,437

8.4%

340,206

426,793

2.5%

119,621

164,002

3.7%

220,585

262,791

1.9%

370,659 9,230 3,494,271

453,655 3,234 4,582,722

2.2% -6.5% 3.1%

58,325 1,689 760,768

86,000 861 957,102

4.7% -4.9% 2.6%

312,334 7,541 2,733,495

367,655 2,373 3,625,620

1.8% -6.9% 3.3%

Total

Source: Annual Statistics 1992-20024

4. Annual Statistics, Morocco, various years

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Analysis of the Economic Situation of Women in Morocco

b) Foreign trade, women’s employment and decent working conditions in Moroccan industry The exponents of free trade and globalisation believe that emerging markets favour gender equality. In a country such as Morocco, the liberalization of trade should stimulate the demand for labourintensive goods as well as for strong value-added products. As international competition pressurizes companies to minimise labour costs, women become an attractive workforce, since they are less well paid than men. This should increase women’s employment. The attraction of a country for foreign direct investment (FDI) is also assumed to increase women’s access to employment. While assisting to increase the rate of inward investment, FDI would also help to generate female employment. FDI in Southern countries is often the result of companies looking for abundant labour and low-cost production. This employment would increase with large overseas multinational companies seeking to subcontract a number of products. In Morocco, there was a relative development of processing industries during the 1980s, following the decision taken by authorities, within the framework of structural reform policy, to redirect industry towards foreign markets (exports), and to benefit from preferential access to the European market. These factors will favour the employment of a female workforce in industry due to its ability and dexterity, and also its alleged docility. In fact, as shown in Table 17, the highest percentage (67.4%) of women working in the manufacturing industry is employed in the garment industry, followed by the textile industry (8.6%) and the food industry (7%).

Table 17: Division by sector of women’s employment in processing industries (1998) Processing industries Total permanent workforce Female workforce Permanent workforce/ Female workforce 19.3% 31.9% 70.0% 18.2% 8.2% 19.5% 15.5% 6.6% Average salary in thousands of DH 58.6 31 23 28 36 51 41 95

Food industry Textile industry Garment industry Leather and shoe industry Wood product manufacturing Paper and paper product manufacturing Printing, publishing and recorded media Manufacture of coke, refined petroleum products and nuclear fuel Chemical products industry Rubber and plastic manufacturing Non-metallic mineral product manufacturing

56,589 41,438 148,508 14,811 7,003 6,983 6,823 3,076

10,928 13,218 103,861 2,703 577 1,365 1,059 205

22,330 9,863 26,346

3,390 1,939 1,635

15.1% 19.6% 6.2%

84 51 40

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Analysis of the Economic Situation of Women in Morocco

Table 17: Division by sector of women’s employment in processing industries (1998) continued Processing industries Total permanent workforce Female workforce Permanent workforce/ Female workforce 4.8% 9.1% 7.1% 75.0% 48.1% 31.0% 6.6% 8.5% 15.55 38.2% Average salary in thousands of DH 62 54 54 54 53 42 77 58 54 40

Metallurgical Basic metal manufacturing Machinery and equipment Office machinery and computer equipment Machines and electrical appliances Medical equipment and precision instrument manufacturing Automotive Other transport manufacturing Furniture manufacturing Total

3,665 18,863 5,165 4,487 11,776 803 6,088 1,599 4,998 403,681

179 1,730 369 3,361 5,671 249 403 137 775 153,951

Source: Table based on surveys on industry structure, energy and mines (1998), Division of Statistics, Rabat, 2001

There is a strong correlation between the share of female participation in the overall permanent workforce and its orientation towards the export industries. Thus, the garment industry, the manufacture of office machinery and computer equipment, and the manufacture of machines and electrical appliances, employ women at respectively 70%, 75% and 48.1% of the total permanent workforce, and record the highest rates of export: 88%, 95% and 45.4% respectively. Beyond the creation of employment, the beneficial effects of free trade and FDI are measured by a number of factors such as wages, working conditions and safety at work. A study undertaken for the Pilot Programme for Decent working conditions (PPTD) within the Moroccan garment industry demonstrated serious defects regarding decent working conditions, particularly in informal production units (poor lighting, precarious forms of work, poor social protection, bad working conditions, bad management and lack of social dialogue). The study was particularly interested in the problems encountered by working women in terms of constraints related to workload, duration of work, shift work, ergonomics, medical and nutritional support, conditions of travel from home to the plant, domestic workload, family pressure on income. Women complain of the risks they encounter working late hours, and feel more keenly the pressure of shift work compared to men. The majority of women are totally exhausted by the end of the day. Likewise, women feel higher levels of stress much more frequently than men. Illness is common for nearly 43% of women compared to 18.5% of men. En route to the plant, women often suffer aggression. They are exposed to the risk of sexual harassment and theft. In the family environment, one third of women say they are too tired to do housework after having worked at the machines compared to only 5% of men. As well as housework, there are conflicts regarding management of income, 43.4% of women confirm the existence of these conflicts, often with their father or husband. In addition, women participate very little in training courses because of the timing of these activities (after working hours or at the weekends).

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Analysis of the Economic Situation of Women in Morocco

There is a need to relativise the positive impact of gender regarding free trade and globalisation, as many of the jobs established are not stable and are threatened, by the emergence of more competitive and cheaper countries. This is particularly the case of the garment industry in Morocco, where the share of market oriented towards export already suffers the consequences of dismantling the Multifibre Agreement, and the exacerbation of competition which will result, especially from countries like China and India. This fact highlights the problem raised by a strategy of growth through the export of labour-intensive products to developed countries. Such a strategy is largely ineffective against the competition with several other low-cost producers. This problem is exacerbated by overproduction resulting from the insufficiency of demand from developed countries in periods of sluggish growth. Since the production of the goods imported by these countries is done mostly by women, they are the first to suffer from the contraction of employment and wages, and to demonstrate the limits that this strategy of growth poses to gender equality. Tackling this enormous challenge requires strategic repositioning of the Moroccan garment industry through the promotion of competitiveness and an emphasis on quality, innovation and reactivity. The social levelling of the companies is also imposed due to the emergence of consumer movements in developed countries that militate in favour of the respect of social standards, better working conditions and respect of the basic rights of workers. As a result of this, in 2002, the Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training and the ILO decided to implement a specific programme to promote decent working conditions in the textile and garment sector through the development of a strategic approach to standardise companies in the sector. The “Pilot Programme for decent working conditions in the textile-garment sector” developed an action plan with the following priorities:
• • • • •

promotion of social dialogue improvement of social management of companies organisation of training on collective negotiation and labour law revision of existing training schemes for the successful coordination and maximization of their effects development of a gender-related strategy.

In spite of the fact that this plan of action reflects the government awareness of the importance attached to social determinants of competitiveness, it does not seem to have been implemented for at least two reasons:
•

whereas Moroccan trade unions are receptive to the considerations of gender equality and decent working conditions, the company owners are more inclined to address different priorities (end of the quota system, and the fall of the garment industry market share in the European market) the Moroccan government was criticised by the ILO Committee of Experts for the absence of virtual implementation of the pilot programme on decent working conditions, especially with regards to Conventions no.100 (equal pay for work of equal value) and 111 (elimination of discrimination in access to employment, training and working conditions) aiming at the elimination of all forms of gender discrimination.

•

It can be concluded, following this analysis, that although the feminization of industrial employment constitutes an important step towards the emancipation of women and their financial autonomy, the working conditions they endure still remain very precarious and make them particularly vulnerable. c) Strong concentration of rural women in agriculture and livestock farming In Morocco, in spite of the progress made in gender equality, rural women continue to be perceived, above all, as wives and mothers. This stereotype conditions their lives and the forms of activity they are allowed to carry out. This explains why the society has limited their contribution to economic life under the pretext of enabling them to devote themselves to their historical and social role. This situation resulted in gender differences in the economic participation of both genders in the rural world. Statistics reveal that rural women are active at a rate of 92.3% in the sector of “agriculture, forestry and fisheries” against 76.6% of men, see Table 18 overleaf.

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Analysis of the Economic Situation of Women in Morocco

Table 18: Active population according to gender and sectors of economic activity and sectors of employment in rural areas Year 2002 Economic activity sectors Agriculture, forestry and fisheries Extractive industry Manufacturing industry Electricity, gas and water supply Construction Reparation Retail and wholesale trades Hotel trades and restoration Transports, storage and communications Finance, insurance, real estate and services provided to enterprises Personal and domestic services Social services provided to the community (1) General administration Other activities Total 3,984,877 19,466 190,233 1,436 207,923 19,457 225,491 21,805 76,801 2,430 48,188 46,857 48,983 880 4,904,827 1,320,684 475 84,136 779 45 8,139 1,015 1,014 174 5,879 5,235 1,879 404 1,429,858 100 92.3 2,664,193 18,991 106,097 1,436 207,144 29,412 217,352 20,790 75,787 2,256 42,309 41,622 47,104 476 3,474,969 100 6.3 6 76.6 Male + Female Female % Male %

Source: Annual Statistics, Morocco

This feature of activity on the part of rural female population is in stark contrast with the situation of women in the urban environment women, who participate in a wide range of activities, such as industry, personal and domestic services, social services to the community and administration. In addition, economically active women in rural areas are susceptible to different forms of underemployment. In spite of the fact that rural women have a relatively high activity rate and a low rate of unemployment, professional activity takes less of their time (3:39 hours/woman per day in 1997-98 than housework). On the other hand, urban women who have a relatively reduced activity rate, devote less time to domestic activities and more time to lucrative occupations (4:55 hours/woman per day). More precisely, the average time devoted to economic activity is established at 25:33 hours/woman per week in rural areas and rises to 34:25 hours/woman per week in urban environment. d) The status within professions Table 19 shows that gender differences are particularly marked with regard to professional status: thus the status of salaried employees comprises only 32.4% of the employed female population compared to 39.9% for the employed male population. On the other hand, family work represents 53.3% of the total of active women against only 22.4% of the total of active men.

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Analysis of the Economic Situation of Women in Morocco

Table 19: Structure of active population according to professional status and gender (in%) 2001 Urban M Remunerated employment Salaried employees Independent Employer Members of cooperatives Non-remunerated employment Family work Apprentice Other Total 92.0 56.8 27.1 4.5 3.6 7.9 5.7 2.2 0.1 100 W 92.7 76.0 14.8 1.3 0.6 6.9 5.3 1.6 0.4 100 M 59.9 22.8 34.0 0.9 2.2 40.0 39.4 0.6 0.1 100 Rural W 15.9 4.9 10.5 0.1 0.4 84.1 83.9 0.2 100 M 76.0 39.9 30.5 2.7 2.9 23.9 22.4 1.5 0.1 100 Total W 45.6 32.4 12.1 0.6 0.5 54.3 53.5 0.8 0.1 100

Source: Division of Statistics, 20015

The high proportion of women working within the family is explained by the importance of agricultural activity and the strong demand for labour. This labour is provided within the family (wife, son and daughter). In effect, the rural household takes the form of an agricultural manufacturing unit where the head of the household uses family labour without paying wages. This shows that this form of integration in economic life does not necessarily reflect an improvement in the status of rural women. It is also shown that the proportion of active women with an independent job does not exceed 12.1% against 30.5% of the male working population. This situation reflects a universal pattern. The probability of being a self-employed worker is greater in the case of men than of women. Several explanations are given for this phenomenon; first, women have less access to credit, capital, land and equipment which are all essential to start a business. Cultural standards can be an obstacle to selfemployed women particularly regarding their contact with the public or the management of other workers. Moreover, women do not have sufficient training or education to work in their own businesses, nor do they have enough time, due to family responsibilities imposed on them by tradition. Under these conditions, self-employment is deemed an illusion in Morocco, and simply reflects the growth of the informal sector. As Mejjatti A.R notes6, “in a context marked by a reduction of paid employment, the degradation of living standards or the search for supplemental income, selfemployment is rendered more and more a masked unemployment. Moreover, self-employed workers are more strongly represented in the service sector, trade and in the craft industry than in the production sector. However, these activities require little or no training, but only a little starting capital”.

Vertical segregation
Within the same profession or sector of activity, men and women do not have the same functions or specialities and do not have equal wages. For reasons related as much to differences in education and competencies, socio-cultural perceptions of the role of women in society, and employers’ denial of the experience and skills that women have acquired through managing a household and budgets, vertical gender segregation still exists and is constantly reinforced.

5. Annual Statistics, Morocco, various years 6. International Labour Office: World Employment Report, Employability in the global economy, Geneva, 2000

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Analysis of the Economic Situation of Women in Morocco

In Morocco, there is no data on gender-based socio-professional categories for the economy. The only information available relates to the processing industries and the mines and energy sector, see Table 20.
Table 20: Vertical segregation (socio-professional categories according to gender), 1998 Socio-professional categories Permanent workforce Men Technical directors % row % column Administrative directors % row % column Administrative executives % row % column Technical executives % row % column Technicians % row % column Office workers % row % column Qualified and specialist workers % row % column Labourers % row % column Other % row % column Total 2084 92.10% 0.80% 4578 92.60% 1.80% 5643 77.60% 2.20% 8362 89.3% 3.3% 19331 84.6% 7.7% 15026 60% 6% 91,502 59.5% 36.45% 95,684 56.8% 38.3% 7,970 74.3% 3.2% 249,730 Women 178 7.90% 0.10% 368 7.40% 0.20% 1630 22.40% 1.05% 997 10.7% 0.6% 3520 15.4% 2.3% 9976 40% 6.4% 61,826 40.5% 40.1% 72,700 43.2% 47.2% 2,756 25.7% 1.8% 153,951 403,681 15,276 10,726 339 168,384 3,642 152,878 4,546 25002 1253 22851 1603 9359 1244 7273 1028 4946 1174 2262 446 Total Salary mass

Source: Survey on industry structure, 1998

26

Analysis of the Economic Situation of Women in Morocco

Table 20 demonstrates that women are confined to clerical duties and subordinate tasks: thus, the categories “labourers” and “qualified and specialist workers” alone account for respectively 47.2% and 40.1% of female permanent workers, against 38.3% and 36.4% for male employment. On the other hand, the access to executive positions seems almost prohibited to women: the positions “technical director”, “administrative director”, “administrative executives'', “technical executive” respectively account for 0.10%, 0.20%, 1.05% and 0.6% of female permanent posts against 0.80%, 1.80%, 2.20% and 3.3% for male employees. Analyzed horizontally, this table shows that men occupy almost all supervisory positions in the hierarchy: 92.1% of the posts of technical director, 92.1% of the posts of administrative director, 77.6% of the posts of administrative executive and 89.3% of those reserved for the technical executive.

3.3 Women’s unemployment
The unemployment rate is defined as the total number of unemployed workers (in a country or in a certain group of workers) divided by the total labour force, which includes both the unemployed and those with jobs (all those willing and able to work for pay). Women’s unemployment rate is almost always higher than that of men. This may be attributable to several factors. Firstly, women have a greater probability of leaving the working population and returning later for personal reasons. Due to these higher rates of constant entry and exit, there will be proportionally more women looking for employment. The range of career choices is narrower for women than for men, competition to get a job will be thus greater among women, lengthening their period of search for employment. In addition, in many countries, women do not necessarily have the kind of training or educational level required to enable them to gain the jobs available. Finally, women are likely to be the first affected by dismissal during restructuring. According to the data available, Morocco is no exception to this. There are two major discriminations concerning the unemployment rate (Table 21). On one hand, women are more affected by unemployment than men (respectively 14.7% and 9.2% in 1982, 25.3% and 13.0% in 1992 and 24.2% and 16.6% in 2002). The rise in women’s unemployment reflects the very fragile nature of their place in the labour market. As A. Mejatti states7, ‘there is certainly a relation between women’s place outside work and the domestic sphere. But it is related to a great extent to the nature of the productive system, where the principal characteristic is to maintain the precariousness of women’s activity, in the form of occasional labour circulating between formal and informal poles, according to the external markets’. In addition, there is a negative correlation between age and unemployment, as unemployment drops with an age increase, Table 21 overleaf. This seems to confirm the theory that young people are more vulnerable because, inter alia, they lack professional experience. However, on a closer analysis, several indicators suggest that new arrivals to the labour market face difficulties that are more than just transitory, but the break down according to gender reveals the greater vulnerability of women.

7. Mejjati, A.R. Gender and Labour Market in the Maghreb countries, Colloque CNRS-INSEA, Rabat, 2003

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Analysis of the Economic Situation of Women in Morocco

Table 21: Unemployment rate of the urban population according to gender and age (1982-1992-2002) 1982 According to age 15-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 65+ Total Men 23.0% 8.3% 3.0% 3.7% 6.6% 5.9% 9.9% Women 22.6% 15.3% 10.0% 8.1% 4.4% 2.5% 14.7% Men 27.5% 17.0% 3.6% 2.9% 13.0% 1992 Women 35.8% 29.2% 12.9% 25.3% Men 33.2% 23.9% 7.9% 16.6% 2002 Women 37.0% 32.9% 11.4% 24.2%

Source: Annual Statistics, Morocco

The duration of unemployment is also a factor of discrimination: Table 22 shows that, according to the national survey on population and employment of 2001, nearly nine out of ten graduates (87.2%) were unemployed for more than one year, whereas this proportion was 58.5% among women with no qualifications. These percentages increase respectively to 83.2% and 61.0% for men. The table also shows that the average duration of unemployment is longer for women (41.5 months) than for men (39.9 months). According to the qualifications, the duration of unemployment is much more significant among women with higher levels of qualification than amongst their male counterparts, that is to say two points of percentage of difference (46.8 months for women compared to 44.7 months for men).
Table 22: Duration of unemployment according to gender and qualifications in rural areas Female Qualifications Less than a year (%) 41.5 20.4 12.8 21.8 More than a year (%) 58.5 79.6 87.2 78.2 Duration of unemployment-months 32.7 41.0 46.8 41.5 Less than a year (%) 39.0 24.2 16.8 27.6 Male More than a year (%) 61.0 75.8 83.2 72.4 Duration of unemployment-months 34.3 41.8 44.7 39.9

No qualifications Intermediate level Higher level Total

Source: Division of Statistics, ENPE, 2001

Finally, whatever the gender, the unemployment rate increases with the educational level (Table 23). Nevertheless, the situation is more problematic for women, in particular those who have a university degree. The vulnerability of women in the labour market is not dependant on the level of education women’s unemployment rate increases proportionately even more with the educational level than that of unemployed men.

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Analysis of the Economic Situation of Women in Morocco

Table 23: Duration of unemployment according to qualifications in urban areas (in%) 1999 No qualifications Intermediate level Higher level (1) Any qualification 15.2 30.3 27.2 29.2 2000 13.1 30.3 28.4 29.7 2001 11.8 27.1 26.3 26.8 2002 10.4 25.0 26.6 25.6 26.0 2003 (2) 12.0

Source: Division of Statistics

(1) Baccalauréats, medium qualification certificate and university degree (2) Situation in the first 6 months of 2003

The United Nations reported the same situation for the entire Arab World. The authors of the report ‘Arab Women in 1995’ state8: “It is interesting to note the profile and educational status of those unemployed in the Arab region. Studies have shown that the majority of the unemployed are firsttime job seekers with high educational degrees, suggesting that the higher the level of education attained, the higher the probability of being unemployed. This paradox can be explained by examining the supply and demand forces governing the Arab labour market. Most Arab economies have experienced a dismal record of growth, leaving a highly educated and skilled labour force in low demand and high supply”.

3.4. Wage discrimination
All over the world, women are paid less than men. This is explained partly by the fact that women often occupy very modest jobs that pay low wages, in occupations that are predominantly female. Meanwhile, men have a higher probability of having regular full-time jobs, more seniority and better wages. In addition, and in spite of the considerable progress achieved by women in all trades, they remain over-represented in poorly remunerated service jobs, such as clerks, teachers and health personnel. The case of Morocco confirms this unpalatable fact concerning the socio-economic condition of women. Table 20, presented above, shows that women occupy, above all, unskilled and poorly remunerated jobs in industry, mines and energy sectors. The average gap of wages between the categories “labourers” and the category “technical director” is estimated at 11.4 times. Table 24, overleaf, renders it possible to trace a profile of the differences of average wages between men and women. This reveals that the average wages of men are 35.8% higher than that of women. In terms of intermediate wages, this difference is less significant, as estimated at 32.7% in favour of men. Analyzed by age, the difference of average wages, always in favour of men, is more significant among employees aged 15 to 29 than those aged 30 to 50, that is to say a difference of 31.4 and 29.6% respectively. Analyzed by education level, the wage difference is narrower as the educational attainment becomes more important (difference of 56% for wage earners at a fundamental level but of 20.0% among their counterparts with a higher level of education).

8. Arab Women, 1995, Trends, Statistics and Indicators, United Nations and Cawter, 1997

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Analysis of the Economic Situation of Women in Morocco

Table 24: Wage differences between men and women (in%) Target population: urban salaried individuals aged 15 to 50 years Individual characteristics Average salary Median salary Education level None Fundamental 1st cycle Fundamental 2nd cycle Secondary Higher education Social-professional categories Executives Middle management Employees Artisans and qualified workers Labourers Sector of employment Public sector Private sector Agriculture Domestic and other services Levels of salary in quintiles 1 quintile average 1 quintile median 2 quintile 3 quintile 4 quintile 5 quintile average 5 quintile median Levels of salary in 50% 1 half average 1 half median 2 half average 2 half median
NB: - indicates poor numbers

15-29 31.4 50.0

30-50 29.6 36.6

Total (15-50) 35.7 32.7

31.6 65.3 -

33.0 61.8 26.1 31.8 20.2

40.0 60.0 30.0 30.0 20.0

23.5 38.5 20.7 14.7 75.8

13.7 23.7 22.4 46.0 60.6

30.0 27.0 25.0 30.0 70.0

11.6 13.4 15.5 79.2

14.2 33.8 36.6 71.0

10.0 30.0 30.0 100.0

-5.0 -9.0 1.3 1.2 1.2 13.7 9.6

19.9 20.0 0.8 1.5 -2.4 4.7 4.8

7.1 16.4 1.0 0.5 1.5 10.4 8.4

20.6 0.0 12.4 0.0

21.0 26.8 6.2 1.1

20.3 29.6 8.0 0.0

Source: Database, ENNVM 1998-1999

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Analysis of the Economic Situation of Women in Morocco

The effect of the socio-professional category on the wage differential is also noticeable. Although it still favours men, the difference in wages between both genders is less among executives aged 15 to 29, it is 13.7%. Always in favour of men, this difference oscillates between 25.0% (employees) and 70.0% (labourers). By age, the wage difference among intermediate staff shows an important fall; it falls to 38.5% among employees aged 15 to 29 and to 23.7% among their counterparts aged 30 to 50. A similar fact is also shown at senior executive level, which corroborates the assumption that wage gaps are wider for recent generations than for previous ones. Analyzed by sector of employment, the variation of average wages is less pronounced in the public sector, that is to say a variation of 10.0% in favour of men. This variation reaches 30.0% among the employees of private companies as well as among their counterparts who work in agricultural farming. Regarding wage classes, the variation remains visible at the bottom as well as at the top of the distribution (the first and the fifth quintile). The influence of this last factor is however less evident if compared to other individual characteristics. In spite of the fact that gender variations regarding wages are explained mostly by factors concerned with human capital, they are also due to other reasons that do not concern differences in individual characteristics. Gender discrimination in terms of wage is comprised of two factors: the first quantifies the valuation of male characteristics through the difference between male productivity and average returns; it is the male advantage. The second quantifies the devaluation of female characteristics by the difference between average returns and female returns; this is the female disadvantage. A recent econometric study on the data shown in Table no 24 estimated the wage difference between men and women was 58. 0%. This difference appears to be primarily the result of wage discrimination of 37 points expressed as a percentage, which means a relative contribution of 63.8%. The female disadvantage, i.e., the under payment due to the fact that the employee is a woman, constitutes the principal factor to explain this difference, that is to say a relative contribution of a little more than half (58.6%). The effects of male advantage, in other words the favouritism regarding men, remains limited but not negligible. On the whole, it proves that the female disadvantage explains more than half of the wage difference between the genders, while the relative contribution of structural effects related to the individual attributes hardly exceeds 36% of all the differences. This gender discrimination in salary is confirmed by the sectoral data available: thus, certain researchers estimate that 54% of women working in the manufacturing industry earn less than the SMIG (Guaranteed Minimum Interprofessional Salary), against only 39% of men. Discrimination in wages is confirmed by a study carried out at Salé where it was shown that, of 225 male and female workers in 16 textile companies, the average start wage was 702,97 dirhams for women against 1024, 81 dirhams for men; the average full wage was 1024,81 dirhams for women against 1624 dirhams for men. As stated in the National Action Plan for the Integration of Women to Development9: “the practice of not paying the SMIG is fairly general but is definitely greater in the case of women. The difference in wages is not only explained by the fact that men occupy higher posts than women but by women’s status within the family”. In conclusion, it has been demonstrated that the participation of Moroccan women in overall economic life remains low, in spite of the unequivocal progress made over the past decades. Poor economic growth, the prevalence of the status of women at home, limited access to education and training and the insufficiency of social services to release women from domestic activities are some of the factors that explain the poor activity rate of women compared to men. In addition, gender discrimination prevents women from utilising their enormous potential which is eventually for the benefit of the community. This is particularly delineated in the domains of professional segregation, the discrimination of wages, the impact of integration in globalisation and the rise of female unemployment, including educated women. It is not surprising, therefore, to see the expansion of informal female activities and of what is termed the “feminization of poverty”. Simultaneously, and on a more positive note, women seem to be moving into female enterprises as a channel for social emancipation and integration in economic life.
9. National action plan for the integration of women in development, Secretariat for State for Social Protection, 1999

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Analysis of the Economic Situation of Women in Morocco

PART 4: FEMALE WORK IN THE INFORMAL SECTOR, POVERTY, MICROCREDIT AND FEMALE ENTERPRISES
4.1 Female work in the informal sector and strategies of survival
The employment of women in the informal sector is not temporary. If part of this employment can be temporary, primarily in countries in recession or under adjustment, the participation of women in the informal sector reflects long-term tendencies, such as the lack of professional mobility of women due to their low level of education and competencies, poverty which limits the access of women to the markets of products and factors of production, and more recently, the evolution of the preference of employers for the informalization and semi- formalization of work. Institutional factors such as the constraints induced by the reproductive role of women also play a considerable part. In Morocco, a recent study by the Management of Statistics10 shows the importance of the informal sector in the Moroccan economy. According to this survey, the non-agricultural informal sector only accounts for 17% of the Gross Domestic Product. The informal economy (comprised of the informal sector, of non-commercial domestic activity, underground economy and illegal economy) contributes with 40.5% of the GDP, distributed as follows:

Characteristics of manufacturing units run by women
Table 25: Share of informal sector in GDP Nature of activities of production Agriculture and livestock Non-agricultural informal sector Non-agricultural domestic activity Total Value included in GDP 15.9% 17.0% 7.6% 40.5%

Source: National survey on the non-agricultural informal sector, 1999-2000, Division of Statistics, Rabat 2003

The large majority of informal manufacturing units are controlled by men: in effect, of the 1,233,240 informal manufacturing units covered by the survey on the informal sector, more than one million units (1,080,396), 87.6%, are run by men, against 12.4% run by women. The limited presence of women in the informal sector can be fully recognized by taking into account the role of this sector in non-agricultural female employment (Table 26). Informal employment represents nearly a quarter (23.2%) of non-agricultural female employment compared to 41.1% for men. In addition, taking into account the sectoral growth of economic activities there is significant differences in the proportion of women in the role of management of businesses in the informal sector, see Table 27, overleaf. In the manufacturing sector (including crafts industry), the proportion of informal units run by women is 37.0%. It is commonly accepted that industrial activities run by “women entrepreneurs” are in general textiles, particularly the manufacture of carpets, embroidery and traditional garments.

10. Division of Statistics, national survey on non-agricultural informal sector, 1999-2000, Rabat 2003

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Analysis of the Economic Situation of Women in Morocco

Table 26: Participation of women in informal employment Characteristics Informal employment Workforce Total informal employment Men Women No information 1,901,947 1,576,492 242,006 83,449 % 100.0% 82.9% 12.7% 4.4% Participation of women in informal employment (%) 12.7% Participation in non-agricultural employment (%) 39.0% 41.1% 23.2% -

Source: National survey on the non-agricultural informal sector, 1999-2000, Division of Statistics, p.127

However, in the services sector (except for trade), the proportion of units run by “women entrepreneurs” does not exceed 10.2%. This rate scores particularly low in the commercial sector, and is insignificant in the construction sector. The almost total absence of women in this last sector seems to be explained by the complexity of activities carried out there. Analysed vertically, Table 27 shows the prevalence of women “entrepreneurs” in industrial manufacturing units; 95,452 units, representing nearly two thirds (62.5%) of the total workforce of informal units run by women. They are followed by commercial units which account for 20.7% of women, and thirdly services which account for 16.5% of them. However, the units run by men are concentrated in trade and reparation (57.3%), followed by services (20.6%) and industry (15%).
Table 27: Informal production units according to the gender of the head of the unit and the sectors of economic activity Activity sectors Gender of the head of the informal unit Male Workforce Industry and craft % row % column Workforce Trade and reparation % row % column Workforce Services % row % column Workforce Construction % row % column Workforce Total % row % column 162,267 63.0% 15.0% 619,326 95.2% 57.3% 222,464 89.8% 20.6% 76,339 99.3% 7.1% 1,080,396 87.6% 100.0% Female 95,452 37.0% 62.5% 31,574 4.9% 20.7% 25,242 10.2% 16.5% 576 0.7% 0.4% 152,844 12.4% 100.0% 257,719 100.0 20.9 650,900 100.0 52.8 247,706 100.0 20.1 76,915 100.0 62.0 1,233,240 100.0 100.0 Total

Source: Division of Statistics - ENSI 1999-2000

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Analysis of the Economic Situation of Women in Morocco

Work conditions and survival strategies in the informal sector
Working conditions in the informal sector are characterized by their precariousness. Taking into account the localized informal sector, which has more access to principal public services, it is noted that electricity is the most used public utility, with a proportion of 79.6%. Access to other services (water, sewage and telephone) remains limited. Thus, only 28.8% of informal units have drinking water in their premises, 26.0% are connected to the public sewage network and 20.2% have a telephone line. In the absence of gender-disaggregated data, it is difficult to differentiate working conditions in the informal units run by women from those run by men. However, taking into account the rather important presence of “women-entrepreneurs” in the industry, the working conditions are even worse in comparison with the general average, and for all basic services except electricity, see Table 28 below. The exercise of economic activity in the informal sector corresponds to survival strategies and the struggle against poverty: thus, for informal units, primarily (71.6%) found in urban areas, the option of individuals to achieve the status of head of informal unit is due to unemployment at a rate of 34.3% or in search of better earnings (20.8%). Self employment in the informal sector helps to mitigate the inadequacy of education and training of the active population. Thus, the heads of informal units are characterized by poor levels of education and training: 43% do not have any schooling, and 39.5% had only a basic level of education. This data is even more unfavourable for women (57.8% of illiteracy rate compared to 39.5% for men).
Table 28: Informal units with a fixed office, basic public services and certain tools of communication and management according to sectors of economic activity % of informal production units have Water Connection to the sewage network Electricity Telephone Fax Computer Sectors of economic activity Industry and craft 26.0 21.9 Construction 53.2 40.9 Trade and reparation 21.3 20.5 Other services 59.4 51.3 Total 28.8 26.0

82.6 16.1 0.2 -

87.3 22.0 -

76.5 20.5 0.4 0.2

87.7 23.7 0.5 2.1

79.6 20.2 0.3 0.5

Source: Division of Statistics - ENSI 1999-2000

Finally, it should be noted that the informal subsistence sector (comprised of informal units with sales turnover by employment lower than the annual value of the Guaranteed Minimum Interprofessional Salary, SMIG, that is to say 21.915 dirhams) constitutes a favourite choice for informal manufacturing units run by women. In effect, 76.5% of this category of units belongs to the informal subsistence sector, against only 32.8% for the units run by men.

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Analysis of the Economic Situation of Women in Morocco

4.2. Feminization of poverty in Morocco
The concept of human poverty, introduced by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in its world report on human development in 1997, approaches poverty through various dimensions. For the writers of the report, poverty means more than just the absence of what is necessary for material welfare: it is the denial of the most essential opportunities and possibilities of choice for human development - longevity, creativity, health, decent living conditions, dignity, self-respect and respect for others, access to all that gives life its value. The concept of feminization of poverty is demonstrated, above all, by statistical data: it is the fact that the majority of the poor are women. Out of the 1.5 billion people who live on approximately a dollar per day, 60% are women. Likewise, in the developing countries, nearly 570 million of rural women, 60% of the rural population, live below the poverty line. It is also demonstrated in the limited access of women to financial resources and the harsh living conditions which they endure. The above mentioned UNDP report states that women all too often lack the means of controlling their destiny, and struggle under exhausting work, with the responsibility of giving birth and raising children, as well as other domestic and community responsibilities. Their lack of access to land, credit and more promising employment opportunities very often prevents them and consequently their families from escaping the arena of poverty. The phenomenon of feminization of poverty is explained initially by historical and sociocultural factors, such as the impact of the patriarchal ideology in many countries, particularly Southern communities. The current process of neo-liberal globalisation appears to contribute strongly to this phenomenon via three areas of transmission: declining growth and investment rates, structural reform programmes and the gender differentiated impact of financial crises. Thus, the data available on several regions of the world regarding the gender related impact of economic stagnation shows that the negative effects of economic stagnation and of slow growth are far more important for women than for men. In the same way, in many developing countries, the combination of the decline of economic growth and the emphasis on competition based on costs resulted in job losses in the formal sector. Certain studies show that these job losses had more direct impact on women than men. Structural adjustment policies often result in cuts in public expenditure particularly for social services and welfare. It is likely that women suffer much more, in view of the sociological disparities between genders that characterize basic social services. These same discriminations seem to be the cause of greater impact of financial crises on women, in the labour market as well as at home. Following the financial crisis in East Asia, women were the first to be dismissed. They were obliged to seek work in the informal sector to compensate for their husband’s job loss. In Morocco, monetary poverty is a tangible fact that tends to get worse: the national poverty rate was 19% in 1998/1999 against 13% in 1991. The number of poor women increased from 1.7 million in 1991 to 2.7 million in 1998-99, an increase of a million in seven years. Over the same period, whereas the annual growth rate of the female population stabilized at around 1.7%, the rate of the poor female population increased by 6%. For men, these rates increased to 1.8% and 6.6% respectively. Therefore, poverty seems to strike men and women with the same intensity. However, if we consider this in terms of the gender of the head of the family, we see a certain feminization of monetary poverty in that the process of impoverishment has a more significant impact on women than on men. This is demonstrated in Table 29, overleaf.

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Analysis of the Economic Situation of Women in Morocco

Table 29: Poverty rate according to the gender of the head of the family in % 1991 Men Urban Rural Total 8.3 18.3 13.9 Women 4.6 14.8 8.2 Men 11.9 28 19.7 1999 Women 12.8 17.5 14.1

Source: Division of Statistics

Thus it is shown that, over the period 1991-1999, the poverty rate for households run by women increased by 8.2% in 1991 to 14.1% in 1999, signalling a growth rate of 72%, whereas the same rate for households run by men grew from 13.9% to 19.7%, signalling an increase of 41.7%. The gender differentiated impact is particularly clear in urban environments where the opposite situation occurred, the rate of poverty of households run by women having exceeded that of those run by men (12.8% against 11.9%) whereas it was much lower in 1991 (4.6% and 8.3%). The importance of the phenomenon of women as heads of the household seems to illustrate the process of the feminization of poverty. In 2002, households run by women represented nearly 20% of total households in Morocco (19.6%), whereas they represented only 11.2% in 1960 and 15.3% in 1992. This increase affected the urban environment as well as the rural area, as the gap between these areas was reduced. This category of households reflects more of a situation of vulnerability than a real presumed emancipation. In 1998-1999, it was believed that 7 out of 10 women heads of the household were widows or divorced. 4 out of 5 were illiterate and 68.8% didn’t practise any activity. Moreover, the majority of these women lived in unhealthy residences. This demonstrates that women as heads of households suffer from both monetary and social obstacles associated with poverty. Several factors have contributed to render the feminization of poverty a reality that is hard to bear; some of these include poor economic growth, the negative and gender differentiated impact arising from structural reform programmes, drought, matrimonial situation, level of education, age and the area of residence, this last factor tends to become less relevant.
Table 30: Proportion (%) of households run by women 1960 Total Urban Rural 11.2 14.6 9.6 1982 15.3 18.1 12.8 1994 15.4 18.4 11.3 2002 19.6 21.5 16.4

Source: Surveys and census carried out by the Division of Statistics

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Analysis of the Economic Situation of Women in Morocco

4.3. Micro credit as a means to combat female poverty
Twelve associations are active in the micro-credit sector: Al-Amana, A-Karama, Amap Tamwil, Amos, Amssf, Atil, BP Foundation of Microcredit, Agricultural Fondation Credit, Fondep, Foundation Zakoura, Inmaa, and Ismailia. However, Zakoura and Al-Amana alone are responsible for almost four fifths of this activity. Apart from the Popular Bank Foundation, where the proportion of women remains less than half of the total, all other operators favoured and targeted women. This is particularly the case of Zakoura, where women represent almost all the beneficiaries. In all other associations, the percentage of women exceeds 80%. These associations have granted more than one billion dirhams of credit to more than 600000 beneficiaries throughout Morocco, 68% are women (40% in the rural regions and 60% in the cities). The number of people likely to resort to this means of financing is considered to be more than 3 million. The total number of employees is 2,462 people. The rate of repayment of microcredit is nearly 100%. Despite the significant progress achieved in the micro-credit sector and its targeting of women, the results obtained regarding the struggle against poverty seem mixed. There could be several reasons for this:
•

Applicants for micro-credit must have suitable activities or projects. Poor people also have to fulfil these requirements, a fact that supposes a minimum level of physical and intellectual competency which they do not necessarily have. There are no clear indicators of the poverty impact. Those involved are very reticent on this subject because of the difficulty of estimating the impact on a quantitative level. The socio-demographic profile of women beneficiaries of micro-credit is not that of poor women. A study undertaken by Zakoura Association showed that widows and divorced women interviewed represented only 17% of all beneficiaries, whereas they constitute more than a quarter of the poor female population. The micro-credit market is comprised of three distinct segments: a higher segment of relatively structured micro enterprises (small trades of reparation and maintenance); a medium segment where the Al-Amana association operates; a lower segment comprised of other associations that work specifically especially with the female population involved in subsistence activities. Women beneficiaries of micro-credit are involved in revenue generation activities. It can therefore be deduced that only a small portion of micro-credit is destined to reach the most vulnerable women.

• •

•

On a more general level, the micro-credit sector in Morocco appears to be confronted with a challenge to survive, as it depends on the autonomy of the donors. It will be necessary to set up an adequate refinancing system through the creation of guaranteed funding.

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Analysis of the Economic Situation of Women in Morocco

Table 31: Principal indicators of the activity of the Micro-credit Associations (AMC) as on 31 December Indicators of activity Number of active customers Percentage of women Total value of current loans Average loan Division of active customers of AMC by area Urban Peri-urban Rural Breakdown Total number of loans since creation Total value of loans since creation Quality of portfolio Reimbursement tax Human resources Number of field agents Number of executive employees Results indicators Exploitation results Net results Total 114,775,400 66,092,603
Source: National Federation of Micro-credit Associations

Total 631,068 65% 1,555,067.7 24,845 Total 362,289 67,965 166,739 Total 3,132,666 8,965,050,856 Total 99% Total 2,180 382

4.4. Female enterprises in Morocco, a recent phenomenon
A new phenomenon on a world scale over the last two decades, female enterprise seems to be in a process of development. The United Nations estimate that 10% of new companies are established by women in North Africa, 33% in North America and 40% in the former East Germany. Several factors have triggered the emergence of this phenomenon: the acquisition of managerial competencies following better access to education; the persistence of unemployment that has forced women to seek independent employment; the growth of the services sector, where it is easier to operate, and where women generally have the know-how and expertise. In Morocco, the proportion of women employers remains very low, it is less than one woman out of 100 (0.6%). For men, this proportion was 2.7% in 2001. A study recently carried out by the Moroccan Association of Women Entrepreneurs (AFEM) on female enterprises in the country shows a profile of the “woman entrepreneur”, the profile of the companies run by women, as well as the obstacles they face. See section 4.4.1.

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Analysis of the Economic Situation of Women in Morocco

Profile-type of woman entrepreneur in Morocco
The profile-type such as shown by the study carried out by AFEM is the following:
• • • • • • • •

women entrepreneurs generally head the companies they have established (68%) or in which they have shares women entrepreneurs have shares (more than 40% of the capital) in the companies they run or have established female enterprises are strongly concentrated in Casablanca (nearly 60%) and a small number in Rabat (14%) women entrepreneurs have a high level of education (60% have a university degree or a commercial degree) the vast majority of women entrepreneurs have previous professional experience the average age of women entrepreneurs is between 35 and 44 years old most women entrepreneurs are married, and have dependent children (77%), normally 2 children (51%) the level of monthly income declared by women heads of companies is generally lower than 20000 DH, the majority declaring a level of income of less than 10000 DH per month.

Profile of the companies established and/or run by women
The above-mentioned study draws up the following profile of this type of company:
• •

although established in various sectors of economic activity, these companies are generally concentrated in the services sector (37%) and that of trade and distribution (31%) companies run by women are generally small, even very small companies such as a limited liability company (57%) or individual businesses (22%) with a sales turnover that, in the large majority of cases, is lower than 20 million dirhams, even 5 million DHS for a large number in terms of staff, more than two thirds of companies run by women employ less than 20 people, women representing less than half of the staff employed companies run by women are relatively recent. The majority have been in existence less than ten years and often less than five years companies run by women often carry out a local activity (31%) or national (44%), with a considerable orientation towards international activity (21%) companies run by women also lack professionals on executive support. 68% of them have less than five executive officers.

• • • •

Hindrances and difficulties encountered by women entrepreneurs
We distinguish the obstacles to the establishment of “female” enterprises from the difficulties related to the issue of daily management. Concerning the first aspect, the main obstacles faced by women who wish to establish their own company are administrative in the first place, in 37% of the cases, (authorization, slow procedures, etc), access to financing (28%) and the lack of qualified human resources (17%).

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Analysis of the Economic Situation of Women in Morocco

Gender discrimination does not seem to constitute an obstacle for women entrepreneurs. According to the study carried out by AFEM, problems related to social constraints and to the condition of women are mentioned in only 9% of cases as an obstacle to women creating businesses. From this perspective, it appears that there were positive developments during the 1980s. A survey carried out in 1992, by the Laboratory of Sociological Research of the Faculty of Arts Ben Msik, in Casablanca, shows that among the reasons given by executive women, not wishing to establish their own business, appeared the resistance on the part of the husband or the family (14.2% of the survey), the fear of breaking into a predominantly male domain (9.4%) and the fact that it is not seen as suitable work for women (5.2%), see Table 32. However, it appears that due to the clichés and stereotypes that prevail in Moroccan society, this issue is worth a more profound study, particularly the impact on relations between the woman who has established business and her administrative, commercial and financial partners. A statistical profile of women entrepreneurs drawn up by the Government of Quebec in 2000 shows that gender discrimination in access to financing results, inter alia, from the perception of banks of the status of women entrepreneurs, and also that of the women entrepreneurs concerning access to external sources of financing. The principal difficulties in management encountered by female heads of companies include the lack of qualified human resources (26%), commercial problems (22%), financial (16%) and administrative (14%).
Table 32: Reasons why executive women do not wish to establish their own business Reasons Lack of financing Lack of the idea Lack of guarantees Preference for security of salary Fear of risk Do not know the procedures Resistance on the part of the husband or the family Fear of breaking through a predominantly male domain It is not a suitable work for women % (percentage) 69.8% 49.5% 39.6% 34.9% 31.4% 19.8% 14.2% 9.4% 5.2%
Source: Survey Women and Enterprises, 1992

In summary, the extension of informal female activity and the increased tendency of the feminization of poverty demonstrate the precarious socio-economic condition of a considerable proportion of the female population. These facts a the review of public policies - especially in economic and social dimensions – implemented in Morocco, particularly the structural reform programmes, in so far as they have had a negative influence on the condition of women. In addition, and particularly in view of a more favourable environment for private initiatives, the last ten years have witnessed the emergence of female business that aspires to claim its place in a business world largely dominated by men. To achieve this, women entrepreneurs must overcome many obstacles, particularly administrative, financial, human and social issues.

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Analysis of the Economic Situation of Women in Morocco

CONCLUSION
The nature and extent of women’s participation in economic life depends basically on the influence of macrosocietal factors such as the inequalities of social relations between the sexes, disparities between social classes, the role of the State and of development strategies. In Morocco, in spite of the unquestionable progress achieved, women’s economic participation remains limited. The integration of women in the economic cycle has been due to developments in education, the liberal economic policy of the State aimed at foreign markets and measures to encourage income-generating activity. However, the low activity rate of women demonstrates the limits of this approach. It also emphasises the important role of gender prejudice in terms of the division of work and the disregard for non-remunerated housework. These same factors are the cause of strong gender discrimination in employment, wages and unemployment. Women’s participation in economic life is also characterised by precariousness demonstrated by the increasing role of women in the informal sector in subsistence activities and the feminization of poverty. These various forms of economic participation have been ongoing since the 1990s through the existence of female enterprises in Morocco. Several factors have contributed to this, particularly the emergence of female competencies, the relative improvement of the business climate and public measures to encourage private initiatives. However, women entrepreneurs face major administrative, financial, human and social obstacles. It has therefore become a priority for Morocco to maximize the participation of women in economic life and to overcome gender discrimination in order to achieve real progress and opportunities in the modern world.

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Analysis of the Economic Situation of Women in Morocco

BIBLIOGRAPHY
ADFM, the process of examination and evaluation of the progress achieved in the implementation of the Beijing platform for action (Beijing +10), NGOs’ report to Morocco Comparative analysis between the sexes, (travel document), Condition of women, Canada, 1998 Arab women, 1995, Trends, Statistics and indicators, United Nations and Cawtar, 1997. Belghazi S. and Baden S., gender discrimination in Morocco’s urban labour force, (Critique economique, no. 6), 2001. Bisillat J. et C. Verschuur, Gender and economy (Genre et economie: un premier éclair age) Harmattan, Paris, 2001.: International Labour Office: World Employment Report, Employability in the global economy, Geneva, 2000 Socio-economic Condition of Women in Morocco, Cered, 2000 Division of Statistics, national survey on non-agricultural informal sector, 1999-2000, Rabat, 2003. Ezzrari A., Professional insertion of graduate women in Morocco (L’insertion professionnelle des femmes diplomees au Maroc, Cahiers du Plan, no. 8), 2006. Feminin Masculin, la marche vers l egalite au Maroc, Collectif d auteur, Fes, Morocco, 2004. Gender and development. Cered, Rabat, 1998. Gender and Labour market in the Maghreb countries, colloque CNRS-INSEA , Rabat ,2003. Maruani M., Women’s work and employment, (La Decouverte), 2000. Mejjati A. R. , Gender and Labour market in the Maghreb countries, Colloque CNRS-INSEA, Rabat, 2003. Moghadam V. M. and Khoury N. F., Gender and development in the Arab world, West view Press, 1995. Naciri R., Contribution to the report on 50 years of human development in Morocco, Rabat , 2005. National action plan for the integration of women in development, Secretariat of State for Social Protection, 1999 Reports on gender and economic globalisation, Alternatives Sud, vol. V (1998), 4. International Labour Review, women, gender and work, vol. 138(1999). Secretariat of State in charge of family, gender and economic activities in Morocco, (Livre blanc), GTZ, 2005. Secretariat of State in charge of family. Figures of Precarity. Gender and economic exclusion in Morocco, GTZ, 2005 Unrisd, Gender equality, 2005 World survey on the role of women in development, United Nations, N.Y., 1999. Annual Statistics, Morocco, various years

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Analysis of the Economic Situation of Women in Morocco

Mohamed Said Saadi is Professor of Economics and Management at the "Institut Supérieur de Commerce et d' Administration des Entreprises"(Casablanca) and the Faculties of Law of Casablanca and Marrakech. He is also an Expert and Member of the Gender and Development Committee of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, Former Minister of Social Protection, Family and Childhood, and Promoter of the"National Plan of Action for the Integration of Women in Development " which led to the Reform of Women Status in Morocco. He has also written numerous books and publications on Business groups and Development, the Moroccan Economy, Gender and the EuroMediterranean Partnership, and is a Social Activist.

For more information about the programme, please contact: Euromed Role of Women in Economic Life Programme 192 El Nil Street Agouza, Cairo Egypt T +20 (0)2 3 3001 609 F +20 (0)2 3 3443 076 [email protected] Euromed Information Centre http://www.euromedinfo.eu

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