On the 17th of June, during the Q&A session at the Moroccan parliament, Prime Minister Abdelillah Benkirane sparked a new controversy when expressing his opinion on women’s status in Morocco. Prime Minister Benkirane stated that “houses lost their light when women/mothers went out of them.” Was the statement an invitation for the women to come back to their houses, as many feminist groups alleged? Is it also an opportunity to demonize Mr. Benkirane among the feminist groups? Is it an in-depth analysis of the Moroccan women situation? Is it a better solution to improve women’s status in Morocco?
Instead of delving into hot debates about women’s role, work or gender equality or into condemning the PM, let us start from the point where the late Mohammed Guessous, one of the greatest Moroccan sociologists, would probably have started.
In sociology, productive work refers to “the production of the means of existence, of food, clothing, and shelter and the tools necessary for that production,” whereas “reproductive work” does not encompass “the production of human beings,” but also “care-giving, managing households and educating children”. If the reproductive work has not been highly recognized from a financial point of view, its value and impact is highly recognized, even outside the sociological literature.
During the last decades, Moroccan women have increasingly participated in areas of “productive work” that were largely men-dominated, such as police officers, taxi/train drivers, company directors and so on. And in this guise, they have less time to devote to “reproductive work” and rely more on service workers or their husbands to fulfill the remaining “reproductive needs”. On the other hand, traditional Moroccan men rarely participated in the “reproductive work,” and tended to avoid participating in this type of work, or, at max, under-perform in such tasks compared to the women.
In addition to that, it has to be highlighted that women’s status in Morocco is a complex question in which many factors participate, such the nature of the Moroccan society that is patriarchal, the change in the working conditions, the change in family structure…etc. In this vein, I believe that Prime Minister Benkirane’s statement was, though not clearly stated, a recognition to the “reproductive work” many women took part of since the dawn of time, yet they were looked down upon and were not given much credit.
Regardless of this, I believe that valuing both types of work (productive and reproductive) would end this heated debate. The Moroccan woman has to make her own choice. This is the only way for her to effectively assume responsibility, to foster herself and be an effective actor in the Moroccan Society.
By Omar Benkirane.
