Female Entrepreneurship and the Public and Private spheres

     Since our time in Morocco, I have been drawn to the women of this culture and what it is to be a woman in Morocco. Just as womanhood cannot be simplified into a single definition in the United States, womanhood in Morocco cannot be effectively described by existing stereotypes. 

    The first article I will discuss in this post looks at stereotypes and women in Morocco. The author writes that it is social organization that has the largest impact on gender perception and construction in Moroccan culture. Women make up 50% of the population but only 26% of the workforce (Borgen Project). Even in the legal context, two women's voices in witnessing a crime have the equivalent weight to one man's voice. (Sadiqi) So while it is important not to stereotype women in this society as meek or subservient, it is of utmost importance to recognize the gender disparities that remain present today which inform the Moroccan woman's standing in culture and access to positions of power. 

    The second article I read considers female entrepreneurs in Morocco and the strategies they implement to overcome cultural barriers to entry on the marketplace. The author defines the public and private eye in Morocco and how the distinctions between the two in Morocco have major implications on gender dynamics. The public streets are inately male spaces in Morocco with limited rules of conduct while the home is defined and relationships have order (Grat et al). The study found that of the women studied the upper-middle class entrepreneurs use their parents' or husbands' travels to further their own economic movements in addition to their own social networks and are generally restricted to the private sphere based in approval from their husbands and female peers. This means that these social networks are critical to success. 

    The textbook discusses gender and leadership but specifies on page 435 that many of the findings explored in the text will not "generalize well across cultures in which the roles of men and women differ". I think this is really important in our understanding of gender dynamics and subsequently leadership in Morocco as the roles of men and women as we have seen them presented to far, are rather distinct. There are however spaces we've seen that gender is not (generally speaking) a barrier to entry or expectations, such as the universities. But when I think about our experiences in the public eye such as the markets and restaurants I am reminded of the classical Moroccan Muslim homes, where there are not terraces or windows to safeguard women from the public gaze and solidify the structure of the home. I have yet to see a female restaurant worker, particularly one that we have interacted with. Similarly all exchanges I have had with strangers (non guide introduced guests) have been with men (aside from bathroom attendants). It would seem that educated women have been granted greater access to public personas than traditional Moroccan women. For example, the farmer's wife (whom he met at university) works as an accountant for a major company in Casablanca. Yet even so, self expression and womanhood are still dictated by the elder women according to Ratem. She shared that her aspirations for her life fall outside her mothers' expectations. More so, Myriam said that she would never be willing to move back to Morocco after living and working in Montreal because she's felt the most empowered as a women there and the culture here differs greatly in attitudes towards women. 

So my question going forward is, what spaces are Morroccan women occupying and how do they lead?  

Hamid has shared how much of Morocco family dynamics are run by the women, but it is hard to contexualize womanhood in the home and in the culture without first hand accounts of womanhood. I would like to hear more from Moroccan women in our remaining time here.  

References:

Gardner, Savannah. (2020) THE STATUS OF WOMEN’S RIGHTS IN MOROCCO. Borgen Project. https://borgenproject.org/womens-rights-in morocco/#:~:text=Women%20make%20up%2050%25%20of,very%20borders%20of%20the%20country.

Gray, K.R., & Finley-Hervey, J.A. (2005). Women and Entrepreneurship in Morocco: Debunking Stereotypes and Discerning Strategies. The International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, 1, 203-217. https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s11365-005-1129-3.pdf

Sadiqi, Fatima. (2008) Stereotypes and Women in Morocco. University of Fes. http://eyas.free.fr/Stereotypes%20and%20Women.pdf