This report is about women in Moroccowho continue to face obstacles in social, economic, andpolitical participation. These obstacles are a result ofdiscriminatory legislative frameworks, social norms thatrestrict legal rights, and limited economic participation.Women’s economic participation in Morocco was at 26 percentwhich is among the lowest in the world, and has not changedsince 1990. The ultimate objective is to promote women’sempowerment as a means to achieve a more inclusive, open,and prosperous society. This report is arranged as follows:(a) chapter one will present the progress thus far and theremaining important challenges for women in Morocco.; (b)chapters two and three focus on economic empowerment andemployment outcomes and on the remaining legislative and orsocial discrimination that continue to restrict women agencyin chapter four; and (c) chapter five will conclude bypresenting some key areas of strategic intervention for thegovernment and other development actors which are not onlyof greater potential impact but also a prerequisite forwomen’s agency and empowerment. The main findings in thereport are as follows: (i) unequal access to education andresources continue to hinder women’s human developmentprogress; (ii) gender segregation in terms of employment ispervasive, with women mostly working in low productivitysectors; (iii) demographic factors and social norms alsoaffect women’s decisions to join the labor force; (iv) onlyfifteen percent of women in urban areas are employed,against sixty two percent of men, and this gap has remainedvirtually unchanged in the past; (vi) there is a substantialwage gap between men and women, even when controlling foreducation and professions; and (vii) traditionalexplanations for Female Labor Force Participation (FLFP)long-term trends account only partially for Morocco’sobserved outcomes. Agency has a role, often a strong one, incontributing to women’s human development and economicopportunities, and opening opportunities for greaterparticipation in social and political life. Despiteimportant reforms, gaps remain in the legal framework,negatively impacting economic, social, and politicaldevelopment for women. The main conclusions andrecommendations are follows: (a) much has been done but muchremains to be done to improve women’s access to economicopportunities and individual empowerment; (b) women canactively contribute to Morocco’s economic growth only if theremaining barriers that still prevent women from working inhigh productivity sectors are removed; (c) removingregulatory barriers and easing the access to credit forfemale entrepreneurs is key to creating more jobs; (d)further reforms of the Labor code could be designed takinginto account specific obstacles to women’s economicparticipation; (e) government action to level the playingfield across the lifecycle would strengthen women’sopportunities and ultimately socio-economic outcomes; (f)the Goverment of Morocco (GoM) has taken considerable stepsin closing gender equality gaps in law, but action is neededto ensure consistency throughout legislative frameworks; and(g) mainstreaming gender into policy action is key toachieving gender equality and women empowerment.
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