CAES Morocco: Advanced Leadership Theories, Ethics, and Culture

Marriages was brought up during one of our bus rides, and Hamid talked about how if a woman is not a virgin then the wedding will be called off. Additionally, he spoke about how single moms are basically not ideal or okay in Morocco. I decided to research about single moms, and learn and understand more about being a single mom in Morocco because I think that being a single mom is common in the United States, and there is nothing wrong with being a single mom.  Furthermore, I go on to find two articles about single mothers and their stories. Morocco World News begins by stating Fedwa Laroui who is a single mom of two children that set herself on fire in 2011 after being excluded from a social housing. However, the article goes on to talk about Amina Chlouchi who is 25 and a single mother. Amina was promised by her boyfriend love and marriage, but when she told him she was pregnant, he left her (Morocco World News, 2012). He does not claim the child even though at the time of t...

In the United States, the term “housewife” comes with a plethora of opinions & associations. Whether Americans love the concept or hate it, generally the status of being a housewife is one saved for women in affluent families. In traditional Moroccan families however, the term “housewife” doesn’t really exist; it is simply just a fact of life. Housewives are part of the cultural norm. In fact, The World Bank reports that Morocco’s female labor force participation (FLFP) rate was only 21.6% in 2018. That being said, a large majority of Moroccan women are not contributing to the labor force. Time & time again on this trip we have been told that the house is reserved for the woman. This is due to cross sections between Islam and Moroccan culture that keeps women separated from others in private areas of life like the home. Within the Moroccan family, women play a quiet but important role. The woman is responsible for the cooking, cleaning, and generally keeping order in the hous...

  I explored the concept of power in my gender roles blog. I want to continue discussing power in relation to social status. There are two types of power, positional power and personal power.   Positional power exists when a person can influence others because of having a higher status or a position of authority in an organization (Northouse, 2022).   Personal power on the other hand is when a person can influence attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors of others because they are likeable or knowledgeable.   Heifetz and Linsky (2002) discuss the dangers of power in the chapter on managing your hunger. There are examples showing how power can get into your head and be your downfall if you are not disciplined with managing the benefits and status that come with having power (Heifetz & Linsky, 2002). Status is easy to see, the way people carry themselves and how others around them act.   We tend to show deference to people of higher status and they expect to be sho...

       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...

  I never considered language a status indicator because English is the official language in the US, and it is used conversationally in most social settings. This is not the case for Morocco. There are many languages spoken due to the different cultural influences present throughout history. The Arab politico-religious conquest brought Arabic into contact with the Berber language. The French colonial occupation introduced the French language to an already bilingual society, and English has been introduced as an effect of globalization ( Zouhir, 2013) . According to Abderrahman Zouhir, the status of languages in Moroccan society are Berber, Moroccan Arabic, Classical Arabic, and French/Spanish (English is at a similar status to French/Spanish)  ( Zouhir, 2013) . This listing goes from lowest status (or power) to highest, with Berber the lowest. English is not officially included in this listing because it is the only language not influenced by colonization in Morocco. Berber is...

  There is a clear distinction of social class in Moroccan culture. We have been privileged to experience the foods, water, goods, and expirenciences of the wealthier Moroccan class but have definitely experienced and witnessed lower class groups. Hamid and the friends of his we have met have been of the higher class. He was able to show us one of their homes with a grand dinner and live music in the medina. We also met a noble woman named Zineb who was a wealthy Moroccan. She experienced an extremely grand wedding that was quite costly and the average person could not afford. The poorer or non-noble Moroccans save all of their fortune for weddings or even have mass weddings. Traditional weddings were a week long but the less privileged could not afford it so now it is traditionally 4 days long now. The poorer class are the blue colored workers we call in America. They are the hands on labor and can be paid fairly low depending on the specialization of their labor. A man who works ...

  While in the desert yesterday traveling above the oasis, our tour guide said that if you walk through the oasis and into the villages all you will see are women working (Mouline et al, 2022). He said, “I do not know what the men do, all I see are women working and when I go into the cafes in town, I see only men sitting around.” I found this to be contrasting of all Fez when we traveled through the Medina and saw only men selling items and working in each stall. He also said that in stores you will only find women shopping and making purchases for the household because “men do not know how to bargain.”  Throughout this trip to Morocco, it seems that women do most (if not all) of the behind-the-scenes work while the men led tours and do more interactive tasks with tourism or business that requires multilingual communication skills (Mouline et al, 2022). I don’t think I have seen one woman talk to us, provide information, or sell items. The only women we have seen speak to us...