Moroccan Women Research Articles

Exploring self-care and cervical cancer prevention attitudes and practices among Moroccan and Pakistani immigrant women in Catalonia, Spain: a comparative qualitative study.

Self-care and preventive health strategies may trigger health inequities when individuals' cultural values and health beliefs are not fully understood and considered. In the case of cervical cancer (CC) screening programs immigrant women have shown lower attendance compared with native women, which increases the risk of late diagnosis and, consequently, a lower probability of survival. HPV self-sampling for CC screening has been recently added to the World Health Organization's (WHO) list of self-care interventions as a promising tool to reduce this disparity and improve screening coverage. In Catalonia, Spain, the introduction of HPV self-sampling as a part of the new population-based CC screening program, is a significant step. However, there is a lack of research addressing self-care and prevention among immigrant populations in this region. This study aims to fill this gap exploring self-care and prevention attitudes and practices among Moroccan and Pakistani women. We conducted focus groups and individual interviews with 36 Moroccan and 37 Pakistani women in Barcelona, Spain. The topic guide of the focus groups included case vignettes to stimulate the discussion and a semi-structured questionnaire was used for the interviews. Our findings show that most Moroccan and Pakistani women do not prioritize self-care and prevention. They seek care for symptom treatment rather than disease prevention. In this sense, they reported not having the habit of doing regular check-ups and their self-care and prevention attitudes and practices seemed to be conditioned by cultural values. The implementation of an effective call and recall system could enhance the engagement of these populations with CC screening services. This study provides evidence on how universal concepts of self-care and prevention may not aligned with more collectivist societies, emphasizing the limited applicability and motivation of global self-care interventions guidelines for individuals with different cultural backgrounds and values. Therefore, the successful implementation of CC screening programs or any other self-care intervention requires the adoption of culturally appropriate strategies.

Intimate liminality in Spain's berry industry

AbstractSpain's berry industry relies on the agricultural labour of both local and seasonal migrant workers. A significant part of this migrant workforce comprises Moroccan mothers who leave their children with relatives in order to perform this wage labour. The bilateral recruitment regime favours the employment of Moroccan women with children for this labour to ensure that workers return home at the end of the harvesting season. Drawing on multi‐site ethnographic research in Spain and Morocco, this study revealed the effects of this bilateral labour regime on the intimate lives of migrant workers. We argue that the geopolitical prescriptions of this labour migration regime, along with the working and living conditions of migrant workers in Huelva, result in experiences of intimate liminality. We examined these experiences by exploring: (1) how the role of female workers as mothers becomes liminal as transnational labour agreements marginalise and outsource care obligations, (2) how governmental neglect of migrant workers' occupational health exposes them to reproductive health risks and (3) how this neglect places them in a liminal space in terms of access to healthcare, and (4) how, despite their liminality, migrant workers contest precarious conditions through everyday solidarity practices. We advance a feminist approach to liminality, emphasising the importance of an embodied, intersectional, and multiscalar perspective.

مبدأ المساواة بين الرجل والمرأة وفق قانون الجنسيّة المغربي رقم 62.06: دراسة مقارنة

Gender equality between men and women is considered one of the fundamental principles recognized in domestic legislation, international agreements, and conventions. These legal frameworks include specific provisions advocating for complete equality and the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women regarding the acquisition, change, or retention of nationality and their ability to grant it to their children. Islamic law , being at the forefront, was ahas pioneered in the granting dedication of equality in rights and duties. However, certain nationality laws still contain discriminatory provisions against women. This research , addresses this ining two main points: first, the principle of gender equality in nationality considering women as mothers, and second, the principle of gender equality in nationality considering women as wives. Moroccan legislators, through Law 62.06, have set limits to prevent discrimination between Moroccan men and women in granting original Moroccan nationality to their children. This legal equality extends to individuals born to either a Moroccan father or a Moroccan mother, contributing positively to the advancement of women's rights in various fields. Nevertheless, a comprehensive review of nationality law is necessary to ensure alignment with the complete gender equality principle. The Moroccan legislature should demonstrate full commitment to gender equality in aspects such as acquisition, loss, recovery of nationality, and granting it to children or foreign spouses. It is crucial for the Moroccan legal system to intervene, providing all necessary legal measures to guarantee full equality and mitigate the risks of statelessness. This involves removing all restrictions hindering complete equality in granting nationality to children and allowing Moroccan women to transfer their nationality to their children and foreign spouses. This necessitates Morocco's adoption of the 1957 Convention on the Nationality of Married Women.

DEPICTING THE MOROCCAN MUSLIM WOMAN'S STRUGGLE AGAINST THE PATRIARCHAL AFRICAN-MUSLIM CONTEXT IN THE POSTCOLONIAL MOROCCO

This essay aims to show how much Leila Abouzeid, the author of the novel Year of Elephant, has developed her own discursive space in order to express the unspoken and depict the abrupt trauma of postcolonial Morocco from a postcolonial feminist perspective. The concept of "the Future" or "l'Avenir" of Jacques Derrida should unquestionably be implied in the aftermath of postcolonial Morocco. In this setting, Morocco's post-colonial fallout is obvious and predictable. The marriage, education, and administrative institutions have all been severely corrupted. Women who gave their lives in the armed resistance are now abruptly subject to patriarchy, mistreated by customs, and shunned by the law. Through qualitative description, this paper claims that the experiences of women in colonialism are celebrated. Using feminist research, experiences of women from postcolonial Morocco have been voiced and the novel portrays a woman’s spiritual journey, and it is an event of cross-cultural literary history. Published in 1989, Year of the Elephant has had a great impact on promoting Moroccan women’s legal situation in contemporary Morocco. The new millennium has signaled a new phase for women’s legal triumph.

Cooperative, Women and Economic Shocks

The cooperative can be considered as a means of independence for Moroccan women. It is the most suitable enterprise to fight against marginalization, reduce unemployment and eradicate poverty.The recent global context characterized by a health pandemic, price increases and the collapse of vital sectors, has significantly impacted the cooperative sector. The objective of this paper is to explore the factors affecting the evolution of the women's cooperative sector and to analyze its degree of resilience to unforeseen shocks. To do so, we opted for a qualitative methodology (interviews and focus groups) that follows an inductive path of exploration.From this study, it emerges that the economic shocks recently experienced have had adverse effects on the social and solidarity economy sector, starting with the cessation of activities and the return to unemployment and ending with resistance or disappearance from the market. In addition, women's cooperatives in the region of Tangier Tetouan Al Hoceima (TTA) have shown an unconditional willingness to undertake and achieve emancipation despite the many factors contributing to hinder their advancement.

Induced vulnerability: the consequences of racialization for African women in an emergency shelter in Catalonia (Spain)

ABSTRACT The growing presence of African women (especially Moroccans) in the support services for survivors of gender-based violence in Catalonia (Spain) highlights how the perception of difference in contexts of significant cultural diversity can fuel othering processes based on racialized assumptions, which may ultimately lead these women to experience situations of additional vulnerability. Through the results of an anthropological study based on African (mainly Moroccan) women, we show how their racialized “otherness” is a cultural construct resulting from a combination of five main variables: gender, ethnicity, nationality, phenotype and religion. One of the most critical consequences of activating this reductionist mechanism is the creation of additional vulnerability for other women in the same situation. We then analyze how these women mobilize cultural, ethnic, religious and socioeconomic markers, with results that ultimately impede the formation of sisterhood and mutual support relationships, thus increasing their sense of being neglected and their vulnerability.

Gendered Tourism: Moroccan Female Workers in The Local Tourism Industry

This study analyzes the influence of tourism development on the lives of Moroccan women employed in tourist accommodation venues in the town of Erfoud in southern Moroccan. The investigation considers both the economic advantages of women's involvement in tourism and the cultural and religious implications of such participation on the lives of these predominantly illiterate women. The study adopts an ethnographic method and argues that while employment in the tourism and hospitality industry undoubtfully brings financial benefits to an otherwise impoverished region, it fails to improve the social status or gender relations and identities of the women. It is found that these are worsened in many cases since working in tourism presupposes that the women maintain sexual relations with their male coworkers.

The (in) Visible Father in Moroccan Women’s Writings

Postcolonial Moroccan women's writings significantly contribute to the re-evaluation of the father-figure. Their narratives reflect a constant battle to challenge patriarchal structures and establish a democratic "imagined community" where women are recognized and celebrated. The female voice rises, and the dominant father is reduced to invisibility as these writers assert their presence and subvert traditional gender roles. This study aims to explore how Moroccan women writers depict the father-figure in their polemical and fictional works. It scrutinizes how they have effectively portrayed the father as a formidable force challenging emancipation. The paper also examines the different manifestations of the father-figure and the various relationships these women writers establish with this pivotal element in their narratives. The findings indicate that these writers ultimately reduce the father-figure to invisibility as they appropriate narratives, feminize language, and celebrate their bodies, breaking free from the patriarchal paradigm.

Divorcing abroad, sharīʿah style: Legal reforms and Moroccan women

Abstract Against the backdrop of the fast-progressing legal reconfigurations happening in European countries and the Muslim world, this article brings to light two internationally noteworthy yet overlooked scenarios. The first regards the plasticity of the Italian provisions fostering the privatization of family matters via extra-judicial matrimonial dissolution formulae, which potentially accommodate Islamically inspired normativities either by granting legal validity to ex-spouses’ sharīʿah-compliant agreements, or by incorporating potential concessions for the Islamic legal waiting period. The second scenario concerns access to justice for Muslim Moroccan wives, who may strategically seek divorce before Italian tribunals through the implementation of Moroccan family law to benefit from more advantageous interpretations and judicial discretion. In-depth examinations of unpublished legal proceedings reveal an evolving legal vocabulary while documenting strengthened confidence in applying the Mudawwanah on European soil. While this can impede the validation of European (extra-)judicial divorces in Muslim-majority countries and lead to divergent implementations of the same norms in Italy and Morocco, the dynamics nonetheless foster forum shopping and women’s empowerment. Paying careful attention to the "gendered readings" of legal provisions introduced by disputing partners before the judiciary, the narrative depicting victimized Muslim women in migratory contexts is therefore challenged.

Peripheral Orientalism and the Creation of Arab Literary Precursors in Quinteto de Mogador by Alberto Ruy Sánchez

This essay explores the intentio operis in the use of transatlantic bridges that are sometimes real, other times rhetorical, and others imaginary that Alberto Ruy Sánchez draws between his country and Morocco. It also looks at the representation of Moroccan space and women, arguing that Ruy Sánchez falls into exoticizing Orientalism with tints of colonial nostalgia, particularly when portraying Moroccan women. Finally, it explores how the author creates his own precursors through the quotes and literary references in his five novels. Presenting himself as a reader of Arab erotic literature and Sufi sacred texts, Ruy Sánchez suggests that he is rewriting classic literary texts, thus creating his own literary lineage and diachronically situating his work within a literary tradition that remains on the margins of Mexican national coordinates to approach, instead, the canon of Arabic literature. [Article copies available for a fee from The Transformative Studies Institute. E-mail address: journal@transformativestudies.org Website: http://www.transformativestudies.org ©2023 by The Transformative Studies Institute. All rights reserved.]

Trapped in Ceuta: Reflexive tactics and methods in Participatory Filmmaking among cross-border women

Abstract Recent scholarship has promoted reflexivity in migration research using visual participatory methods. However, the perspectives of cross-border workers living as undocumented migrants in borderlands have been understudied using these methods. Adopting a reflexive approach to Participatory Filmmaking (PF), this article critically engages with the co-production of knowledge amongst thirteen Moroccan cross-border women living and working irregularly as domestic workers in the Spanish city of Ceuta, North Africa. Empirically grounded in a 3-month PF workshop conducted during the closure of the Moroccan–Spanish border following the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) lockdown, it explores the application of specific methods and tactics of data collection and analysis based on researchers’ and participants’ reflexivity to reveal some of the local colonial legacies that emerge when approaching this methodology from a Eurocentric gaze. To this end, I first established an ongoing, transparent dialogue aimed at unlearning, from the participants’ perspective, how to critically interrogate each facet of PF’s data collection and analysis. In this endeavour, decisions about the rationale for recruitment, practices, visuals, and technologies employed, participation, consent, and canons of technology and representation were negotiated to produce reflexive autoethnographies while avoiding exposure. Secondly, I consider specific reflexive tactics and methods of co-analysing data with participants to challenge specific categorizations while embracing decolonial feminist views. In doing so, I argue for a more reflexive approach to PF to redress existing power inequalities at the intersection of technology, representation, and voice at the heart of borderlands. It can be achieved by transforming methodological analysis into decolonial action and response.

Access to Labor Market and Integration of Moroccan Women in Andalusia: The Two Sides of the Coin

Given the multifactorial nature of the integration processes of migrants, this article analyzes the correlation between inclusion in the labor market and the integration of Moroccan women residing in Andalusia. An intersectional approach is used, addressing three key variables: youth, gender, and ethnicity. To this end, a qualitative methodology has been developed based on conducting twenty-nine in-depth interviews with Moroccan women residing in Andalusia. Non-probabilistic intentional sampling has been used through the snowball technique. The results have shown the ambivalence that insertion in the labor market implies for these women, being, on the one hand, an area of oppression, rejection, and discrimination, and on the other, one of the essential factors to achieve the full integration of the protagonists, granting them agency and resistance. It concludes by highlighting the importance of favoring the successful transition and inclusion in the labor market of these women, being fundamental to the development of strategies and political proposals aimed at reducing, even eliminating, the structural violence that continues to prevail in this area.

Self Esteem in Moroccan Women

Aim: This cross-sectional study aimed to explore the level of self-esteem in Moroccan women, identify factors influencing self-esteem, and examine the developmental trajectory of self-esteem across different age groups. Material and Methods: A questionnaire was administered to 394 Moroccan women, utilizing the Rosenberg self-esteem scale and socio-demographic questions. Participants were recruited online through social media platforms. Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results: The study found that self-esteem levels varied across age groups, with peaks in adolescence, around the age of 40-50, and at age 70. Most participants were from urban areas and had high educational levels, yet self-esteem levels were generally low. Factors such as the loss of a loved one during childhood and a history of cardiovascular disorders were significantly associated with lower self-esteem. Income, family situations, and traumatic childhood experiences also played a role in self-esteem levels. Discussion: The study's findings suggest that self-esteem development in Moroccan women follows a unique trajectory, influenced by cultural, social, and individual factors. The observed peaks and drops in self-esteem at different life stages provide insights into the complexity of self-esteem development. Additionally, factors like income, health issues, and childhood experiences can impact self-esteem. These results emphasize the need for culturally sensitive interventions to promote self-esteem and mental well-being in Moroccan women.

Impact of child sexual abuse on suicidal behavior in a population of Moroccan women with severe psychiatric disorders: Impact des abus sexuels à l'enfance sur les comportements suicidaires chez une population de femmes marocaines atteintes de troubles psychiatriques sévères

BackgroundChild sexual abuse (CSA) was associated with an increased risk of suicidal behavior. AimsEvaluate the impact of child sexual abuse on suicidal behavior in a population of Moroccan women with severe psychiatric disorders. MethodA cross-sectional study was carried out at the psychiatry department of Mohammed VI University Hospital Center in Oujda (Morocco). Results400 women with psychiatric disorders were included. 5% of the patients in our sample had a history of CSA, and the average age at the time of sexual abuse was 12.5 ± 3.4 years old, ranging from 4 to 18. 25.5% of the patients had a history of a lifetime suicide attempts. The prevalence (7.8% vs. 4%, p = 0.078), and the number of the lifetime suicide attempts (6.25 ± 4.68 Vs 2.59 ± 2.69, p = 0.0008), were significantly higher in sexually abused patients. Jumping from heights was the most common method of suicide attempts among sexually abused patients (p = 0.0055). In addition CSA is significantly more frequent among patients with borderline personality disorder (p = 0.0034), and those who use tobacco (28% vs. 8.5%, p = 0.00007), cannabis (38.5% vs. 4%, p = 0.00018), and alcohol (45.5% vs. 4%, p = 0.00007). LimitationsThe cross-sectional design, as well as the non-performance of logistic regression, were the main limitations of our study. ConclusionCSA significantly influences suicidal behavior in women with severe psychiatric disorders. CSA screening and evaluation could prevent suicidal behavior and improve patients' overall quality of life.

Gender Roles in Formal Second Language Learning in a Migratory Context: L2 Teachers’ Perceptions of Moroccan Origin Women in Catalonia

In Catalonia, the largest group of immigrants is that of Moroccan origin. Some Moroccan women are conditioned by a traditional family model that is concretised by the spatial separation between men and women in all spheres of society, a fact that influences the socialisation of these women and that, in a migratory context, may have an impact on their early abandonment of formal second language courses. Accordingly, this study aims to analyse the importance of accounting for the culture and gender factors in language teaching in a migratory context. We conducted semi-structured interviews with eight teachers of Catalan and Spanish as a second language, as they are the link between the institution and the students. The results suggest that providing instruction to segregated groups might grant women who are unable to participate in mixed-gender language classes the opportunity to increase their second language proficiency and thus facilitate their integration into the corresponding host territory. Offering gender-specific courses is a particular challenge for public L2 schools, where groups are organised according to the learners’ levels and not according to characteristics linked to origin and gender, as the latter practice may be at odds with the criteria of equality that guide public education in the host territory.

Relationship between Sleep Quality and Anxiety-Depressive Disorders in Moroccan Women with Breast Cancer: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Breast cancer is the most common female cancer in the world. Sleep disruption is one of the major problems of breast cancer patients. This study aimed to evaluate the quality of sleep in a group of Moroccan women with breast cancer and analyze the association between sleep quality, depression, and anxiety. This cross-sectional study was carried out among 337 Moroccan women treated for breast cancer at the Mohammed VI Cancer Treatment Center in Casablanca in 2019. A questionnaire was designed for this purpose based on two scales: Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and Hospital Anxiety Depression Scale (HADS). 71.5% of the participants had significant sleep disturbances; the subjective quality of patients' sleep was considered to be quite poor (20.8%) and 43.9% of participants need more than 60 minutes to fall asleep. The average sleep duration was 6.16 h/night and 84.3% of patients had not taken sleep medicines in the last month. The most common reasons for sleep disturbances were getting up to use the bathroom (67.4%) and waking up in the middle of the night or early morning (54%). Anxiety and depression were positively correlated with PSQI scores. The present study highlights how much breast cancer patients are vulnerable to psychological disorders and then incites the decision makers in oncology departments to implement rigorous psychological health care strategies in order to ameliorate mental health and sleep quality of breast cancer patients.

CRITICAL PEDAGOGY: ANALYZING SOCIAL POWER AND CULTURAL IDENTITY IN MOROCCAN EFL HIGH SCHOOL GATEWAY TO ENGLISH 2 TEXTBOOK

This article aims to examine social power and cultural identity in four units of Gateway to English 2 textbook in Morocco, it is a textbook for teaching English as a foreign language for second baccalaureate. Besides, the variety of languages along with regional Moroccan dialects entail different cultural perspectives and political guidelines to project students’ orientations and national red lines to respect, since school is regarded as an area for national identities by using pedagogical implementations. In addition, the curriculum mustn’t be a vehicle to convey social inequality or bias, but rather a suitable vehicle to promote social democracy and justice for all cultural identities, and in doing so, critical pedagogy can be an effective strategy for all students to see themselves in the curriculum and reshape future guidelines for themselves and their society. The data of this study was analysed through three stages of Fairclough’s (Fairclough, 2017) approach to critical discourse analysis: description, interpretation, and explanation. The findings revealed that Gateway to English 2 textbook misrepresented Moroccan women in terms of literacy, knowledge and social position in Moroccan society and conveyed social and political guidelines.
 Keywords: social power and cultural identity, Gateway to English textbook, critical pedagogy

Challenging Patriarchy: Moroccan Women and Political Leadership

This paper studies the involvement of Moroccan women in political leadership in the light of the new family code and constitution. It starts with analyzing Fatima Mernissi’s the Forgotten Queens of Islam to refute the belief that Muslim women were never political leaders and can never be. Then, it examines the perspective of the Party for Justice and Development toward the engagement of women as leaders since the latter is a party with an Islamic background leading the Moroccan government from 2011 to 2021. Finally, the research investigates the Moroccan school programs’ representation of women as politicians in history and civic education from the fourth to the ninth grade. This study is urgent because it attempts to understand why Moroccan women are still uncapable of reaching higher political positions though the efforts Morocco is taking to facilitate their integration into politics. The feminist political approach is used in this article since it is concerned with critiquing inequality and political subordination of women while the content analysis method is utilized in investigating the reasons why women are not engaged as political leaders. The research concludes that the Moroccan sociopolitical conditions directly contribute in hindering women from reaching higher political positions.

Moroccan Women's Attitudes Regarding Pap Smear Test and Adherence to Cervical Cancer Screening.

In Morocco, cervical cancer is the second most common cancer affecting women after breast cancer. Encouraging more women to practice cervical cancer screening remains a major public health concern. There is a lack of data on awareness and of data concerning the determinants of the acceptability of Pap smear test in Morocco. To fill this gap, our study aims to assess the level of awareness of cervical cancer and human papillomavirus (HPV) infection among Moroccan women and to understand the determinants of the acceptability of Pap smear test. We conducted a cross-sectional study including 857 women in the following three Moroccan regions: Casablanca-settat, Marrakech-Safi, and Tanger-Tetouan-Al Hoceima, by using a structured interviewer-administered questionnaire between November 2019 and February 2020. Out of the total sample, 83.9% of participants were aware of cervical cancer, 87.2% of participants were unaware of HPV, and 51.8% of participants were aware of Pap smear test. The rate of women who had ever had a Pap smear test in our population was only 19.36%. Moreover, our study revealed that more than 78% of participants were willing to undergo Pap smear test regularly in the future. The study revealed parity, age, educational level, risk perception, and the belief that early screening improves the chances of successful treatment, as determinants of acceptability of Pap smear test. Our results have shown that there is an urgent need to implement a strategy to sensitize women on the prevention of cervical cancer. Furthermore, the results of this study should be taken into account in the development of strategic and action plans for the prevention of cervical cancer.

Externalized Within, Everyday Bordering Processes Affecting Undocumented Moroccans in the Borderlands of Ceuta and Melilla, Spain

ABSTRACT This article proposes the notion of ‘externalized within’ to trace the implications of Ceuta and Melilla becoming frontlines of Fortress Europe in the context of entrenched postcolonial hierarchies. While building on previous contributions around ‘internal externalization’, this article goes beyond the policy analogy that led to the coining of this phrase in order to focus on the social implications of this phenomenon in terms of everyday bordering. This article explores how exclusionary policies specific to Spanish borderlands impede undocumented migrants from accessing social services through concrete legal, economic and social barriers, leading them to become ‘externalized within’. The cases of children’s admission to school and pregnant women’s access to healthcare are highly symbolic issues, as these groups tend to be portrayed as vulnerable and tend to benefit from some forms of inclusion both in mainland Spain and many other European settings. In the context of Ceuta and Melilla, the marginalisation of undocumented Moroccans is intensified by the divisive effects of border fortification, to be seen in the weaponizing of basic social services. The article relies on qualitative fieldwork conducted with undocumented Moroccan women, NGO members, social workers and healthcare professionals and managers in 2016 and 2017.