Containing the Moroccan Feminist Movement, Maintaining Patriarchal Order

Abstract

Women and feminist movements are prominent in all social movements. In new-democratic patriarchal countries, women's movements do not only challenge the corrupt system but also the social structure of society. In Morocco, as a way to control these women’s movements and to perform to the ‘developed’ world that the country is coping with the ‘developed’ women’s rights, the government implants gender-based laws and rights that boost the image of the country but don’t necessarily make an impact towards the situation of women. Although these laws have been the primary focus of Moroccan feminist groups, lawmakers purposefully ignore these groups and dismiss their agendas. These feminist movements and women’s groups do not participate in the creation of these laws, nor do they get recognition for initiating them. It is therefore important to recognize the government’s strategies of putting out the feminist flames and agendas before, or slightly after, the outbreak as a strategy of containment. This prevents the emergence of feminist manifestations and often shuts them down. This paper presents cases from the history of Morocco where this strategy was/is used to limit the influence of women's (feminist) movements. The case study for this phase of research takes place during the 1950s.