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Aouatif Berdai
In an interview we asked Mrs Aouatif Berdai, Elected Representative and Board Member at the Chamber of Commerce in Marrakech, about the role of women in the Moroccan society today.
Mr Berdai said that in the call of Arab women for equality and dignity we can summarize the situation as follows:
- The preservation of the gains, the full and effective equality and inclusion of women's rights in constitutions;
- The legislative and administrative measures to eradicate violence against women;
- The adoption of laws that protect women from social and economic inequality, discrimination in the family in particular;
- The affirmative action to ensure women's access to decision making positions and their full participation in political and community life;
- The termination of voices raised here and there to discriminate against women on behalf of a religious ideology as well as those who would deny them a full participation in a dignified and respectful life as guaranteed by human rights.
She also stressed on the fact that Moroccan women won quite a few things but that March 8 should not remain the only day for women, but that every day should be a Women's Day.
The International Women's Day 2012, as we know was devoted to "The empowerment of rural women and their role in eradicating poverty and hunger, development and current challenges." “We must work”, she said, “on the realization and success of this project. The gender inequality and limited access to credit, health care and education, however, posed a number of problems for rural women”.
She observed that Moroccan women still lag far behind in education and information and for that reason March 8 is and must remain a day of struggle for Moroccan women, “we are here to struggle and defend women's rights and to say: Stop the regressions. Moroccan women should gain an advanced status in the Moroccan society.”
Mrs Berdai also highlighted the fact that women in Morocco are paid less than men or are more often employed part-time or unemployed, while continuing to do the majority of domestic tasks.
“Equal pay and opportunity between men and women must be a major focus of the struggle of Moroccan. So we need an institution that is working jointly to promote equality between men and women through the development of a program to protect and highlight the core values of diversity, equality for women's rights, peace and solidarity.”
She notes, however, that we must recognize that in the era of late King Hassan II and especially his successor King Mohamed VI, the situation of women in Morocco has made great advances in recent decades. The adoption of the new Family Code was a "crucial" step in the process of promoting the rights of Moroccan women (this code came into force in February 2004).
“We still hope that the future of Moroccan women will be increasingly better and that this will benefit not only women, but our country in general,” she concluded.
Mr Berdai said that in the call of Arab women for equality and dignity we can summarize the situation as follows:
- The preservation of the gains, the full and effective equality and inclusion of women's rights in constitutions;
- The legislative and administrative measures to eradicate violence against women;
- The adoption of laws that protect women from social and economic inequality, discrimination in the family in particular;
- The affirmative action to ensure women's access to decision making positions and their full participation in political and community life;
- The termination of voices raised here and there to discriminate against women on behalf of a religious ideology as well as those who would deny them a full participation in a dignified and respectful life as guaranteed by human rights.
She also stressed on the fact that Moroccan women won quite a few things but that March 8 should not remain the only day for women, but that every day should be a Women's Day.
The International Women's Day 2012, as we know was devoted to "The empowerment of rural women and their role in eradicating poverty and hunger, development and current challenges." “We must work”, she said, “on the realization and success of this project. The gender inequality and limited access to credit, health care and education, however, posed a number of problems for rural women”.
She observed that Moroccan women still lag far behind in education and information and for that reason March 8 is and must remain a day of struggle for Moroccan women, “we are here to struggle and defend women's rights and to say: Stop the regressions. Moroccan women should gain an advanced status in the Moroccan society.”
Mrs Berdai also highlighted the fact that women in Morocco are paid less than men or are more often employed part-time or unemployed, while continuing to do the majority of domestic tasks.
“Equal pay and opportunity between men and women must be a major focus of the struggle of Moroccan. So we need an institution that is working jointly to promote equality between men and women through the development of a program to protect and highlight the core values of diversity, equality for women's rights, peace and solidarity.”
She notes, however, that we must recognize that in the era of late King Hassan II and especially his successor King Mohamed VI, the situation of women in Morocco has made great advances in recent decades. The adoption of the new Family Code was a "crucial" step in the process of promoting the rights of Moroccan women (this code came into force in February 2004).
“We still hope that the future of Moroccan women will be increasingly better and that this will benefit not only women, but our country in general,” she concluded.
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