A survey of Morocco’s developmental trends since its independence reveals that the state adopted a policy of economic and social modernization beginning in the mid-1980s. In subsequent decades, Morocco seems to have fared well in comparison to other developing countries on some factors, such as unemployment and poverty reduction. However, in terms of developing the human capabilities of females and their labor market outcomes, Morocco’s performance has been less impressive: The paid labor force participation of women remains low, with a majority of working women employed in the agricultural sector. Likewise, female literacy in Morocco lags behind developing and regional comparators: The country’s female illiteracy rate was an appalling 87% in rural areas and 49% in urban areas as of 2005. The objective of this research is to examine the role of women in the nation’s development strategy since the 1980s. Utilizing official governmental and non-governmental reports and scholarly literature, I study the policies and mechanisms in place that address women’s literacy and employability in Morocco (in the formal non-agriculture sector). These are then compared with their policy counterparts in Iraq during the 1970s, a period that was characterized by high economic growth, rising investment levels and where the state deliberately attempted to enroll females into education and integrate them into the paid labor force. We do this in an attempt to solve the apparent paradox: Literature indicates that significant efforts have been made in Morocco especially since the 1990s to promote adult literacy as a whole, but after two decades there remains a striking disparity in the literacy rates between males and females. The results reveal the constraints and limitations of both Moroccan and Iraqi policies to enhance women’s literacy and labor participation, including how state policies themselves can be constrained by a desire to achieve multiple and divergent ends.

The United Nations declared 2012 the “International Year of the Cooperative.” This level of international attention is largely rooted in the growing use of cooperatives as a development tool that targets both poverty reduction and empowerment, especially for women. Women’s cooperatives are increasingly popular in several countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), where they are seen as a one of the more culturally acceptable forms of women’s empowerment initiatives. At the core of their popularity is the belief that they can provide economic benefits to the family and community as a whole, and the fact that they do so using market structures, rather than the political sphere. The normative discourse around women’s cooperatives has largely discouraged a critical examination of their effects on women, especially in the MENA region. In this paper, I seek to address this void. To do so, I trace how cooperatives emerged alongside the growing empowerment discourse. Next, I take apart the meaning and different manifestations of women’s cooperatives to help problematize the discourse surrounding them and to facilitate a discussion on critiques of cooperatives. Finally, I illustrate problematic components of women’s cooperatives through the example of women’s Argan cooperatives in the Souss Massa Dra’a region of Morocco, where they have become a prominent development strategy. This example highlights the effects of the ritualization and normalization of women’s cooperatives and specific cooperative models; the limited ability of cooperatives to overcome structural constraints to gender equality (working within these structures instead); the tendency to limit assessment of cooperatives to economic effects alone, assuming that this will translate into general empowerment; and the way that cooperatives can be used to fulfill a variety of political and ideological interests in potentially problematic ways. In this paper, I rely on original field work with women’s cooperatives in Morocco, as well as previous literature on empowerment and women’s cooperatives, especially the works of Naila Kabeer, Srilatha Batliwala, and Linda Mayoux. Finally, I analyze the discourse on empowerment and cooperatives among major donors and international organizations like the World Bank and the United Nations.

This project evaluates the mechanisms by which Moroccan grassroots organizations, women’s organizations, and Islamist organizations achieved unparalleled changes in family law and gendered reform between 2004 and 2008. Their collective voices demanded an end to stereotypical female roles and an increase in women’s rights, political participation, and socioeconomic opportunities. Morocco’s successes serve as an example for women’s activism across North Africa and may provide further impetus for women’s progress in neighboring states. This project focuses on women’s empowerment in the private sphere through family law reform as well as through improved access to the public sphere through increased educational and employment opportunities. Lastly, this project analyzes the intersection between Moroccan women’s movements, the UN-sponsored CEDAW and Beijing Platform, and the Moroccan state and religious authorities to assess how local organizations employed international conventions and economic incentives as a vehicle to further institutionalize gender parity. The project utilizes a multi-prong methodological approach to triangulate on the multivariate input to women’s empowerment. First, the study will include in-depth case studies of 6-8 grassroots and WNGOs June-July 2013. The grass roots organizations include the FEDER program in Rabat and the ISIS program in Fez, while the WNGOs will include the Association Democratique des Femmes du Maroc (ADFM) in Rabat, the Amane Association for the Development of Women in Marrakech, the Democratic League for the Rights of Women in Ouarzazate, and the Initiative pour la Protection des Droits la Femme in Fez. During these case studies, ethnographic surveys will be conducted among clients of the ISIS and FEDER programs to evaluate the programs’ impact and effectiveness. Next, the study will involve interviews with government and party officials and WNGO heads conducted in March-April 2012 and June-July 2013. Finally, the study will explore the findings from focus groups and surveys conducted at universities in Fez, Rabat, Marrakech, and Ouarzazate in 2012 and 2013 to assess the effectiveness and institutionalization of family law and gendered reform. This project was started in Morocco in 2012-2013 and will expand to Tunisia and Egypt in 2014-2015 to assess the interplay between legislative reform in Morocco and similar movements neighboring states.

Within the greater Middle East, Pakistan and Sudan are two states whose chronic political instability has had significant consequences for the well-being of its citizens, particularly for marginalized groups such as women. While women encounter socio-economic and political disadvantages globally, within weaker states their levels of exclusion are heightened. Inadequate policies and institutions along with exclusionary socio-cultural contexts mean that women face both material and non-material disadvantages. This paper explores the ramifications of poor governance for the inclusion of women in society. While the fragile political and security makeup of the countries has increasingly placed women at the margins of society, women working in informal rural economies have proven to be critical to the survival of their families, as they serve the dual role of primary domestic care-takers and providers of income. Operating in the periphery, rural women working in informal economies are at the bottom level of the labor markets as they face gendered, social, and economic vulnerability. The social exclusion of women working in these economies posits the need for comprehensive assistance that enhances their employability while taking into account the gendered power relations existing within society. Non-governmental organizations play an important role in this regard, as they fill the gap of the state by facilitating access to vital resources and networks. This paper assesses the services provided by NGOs in the rural areas of Pakistan and Sudan and their attempt to overcome the challenges of exclusion faced by rural women. The productive and reproductive skills offered by these organizations, are incorporated into the coping strategies of women to fulfill their multiple and multi-dimensional roles in society. The way in which women utilize these skills is an indication of their active participation in their own social inclusion and their ability to navigate the power structures that exclude them. This paper will examine the impact of NGO programs dedicated to the enhanced participation and integration of women in society, to assess whether this translates into greater agency in different spaces, and how it dually impacts gender disparity within their homes and communities.