Abstract
This paper aims to look at the new context of
gender politics in Morocco post-Arab uprising and post–gender-based reforms.
This new context reveals an interesting reconfiguration of the terms of the debate
—and its players—around what constitutes and frames the “women question” in Morocco.
Representations of the “women question”—as advocacy for and/or opposition to gender equality, as
women’s rights versus the Islamist agenda, or as modern versus traditional values—
have been challenged by the eruption of bottom-up, female-led street protests in
rural areas and in the suburbs of urban centers. These eruptions are redefining
the conversation about women, exposing power relations within feminism and its
discursive framework of rights and laying bare the gap that I have just mentioned,
between the inequalities that are ostensibly being addressed through activism
led by long-standing NGOs, and the system that continues to reproduce those
inequalities. In each case, the changes that are emerging operate within
leaders’ specific local socioeconomic situations, and the political issues at play are
largely structured by the intersection of socioeconomic inequalities and political
authoritarianism.
Discipline
Geographic Area
Sub Area