A Call for Equity for Women on March 8

The Moroccan League for Citizenship and Human Rights called on the government to correct the injustice that women suffer, both at work and in retirement. It also called for effective protection for those who work as domestic workers, while criminalizing the employment of minors under 16 years of age.

Enable women soulaliates to benefit from their rights and repeal texts that discriminate against them; protecting them from violence and sexual harassment in the workplace; establishing legal mechanisms to achieve this; eliminating articles that perpetuate discrimination against women in the Family Code; and enabling women to accede to decision-making positions; combating organized trafficking in women and children, particularly for the purpose of sexual exploitation; combating the displacement of Moroccan women for sexual exploitation abroad; combating sex tourism; promoting the protocol on trafficking in human beings; improving the conditions of women prisoners and protecting them from sexual harassment, exploitation and violence, are all concerns raised by the League.

In its statement issued on the occasion of International Women’s Day, the League presented some figures concerning women in Morocco. For example, as of June 2018, there are 17.67 million women in Morocco, which corresponds to a little more than half of the Moroccan population. 7 out of 10 Moroccan women are housewives, widowed or divorced. 65.6% are illiterate and 75% are inactive.

The league states that during the last decade, the number of minors who married before the age of 18 has decreased by 12.8%. About one-third of married minors have given birth to one or more children, while the vast majority of girls are unmarried (87.7%). In rural areas, one in 10 girls in the 7-12 age group is out of school.

According to statistics from the Office of the High Commissioner for Planning, 14.8 per cent of girls aged 15-24 are illiterate. According to national employment data for 2018, the female labor force participation rate is 22.2 per cent, which is relatively less than one third of that of men (70.9 per cent). Unemployment among women is much higher and is steadily increasing. Women’s activity is also characterized by its fragility. In 2017, around 40.5% of working women worked as unpaid family assistants.

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