Beyond vulnerability and adversities: Amazigh women’s agency and empowerment in Morocco

Abstract

ABSTRACT Amazigh women in Morocco have traditionally suffered triple marginalisation: as women, indigenous and rural. The language and geography of the Atlas Mountains where they live have also made it difficult for them to access the most basic educational and health-care resources. That is why Amazigh women are often represented in many studies as ‘illiterate’ and ‘in need of help’. But a careful examination of the history and the daily reality of Amazigh women reveals another side of the Amazigh women’s story that has yet to be told and on which we wish to shed light in this article. We will focus on the agency and resilience of Amazigh women and how they transform their daily reality and vulnerabilities into opportunities that empower them, their families and communities. Through their knowledge and practices, Amazigh women contribute as active agents of civil society, caring not only for the well-being of their own families, but for the development of their community and the legacy of their culture. We provide clear examples of how these women contribute to the local economy and rural development by organising and working in cooperatives dedicated to carpet weaving, argan oil production and arts and crafts. Culture and tradition, reclaimed and preserved by women, emerge as a source of recognition of Amazigh identity, of local community development and of feminist empowerment.