For the past few decades, discourse on gender and development has revolved around the interrelationship between female empowerment and economic development. Although definitions of empowerment vary extensively, there tends to be an underlying consensus that “empowerment” can be attained by following an “approach that [can] be applied appropriately in a range of contexts.” However, as literature on gender and development has progressed, it has become increasingly clear that empowerment manifests itself in various ways and cannot be achieved through the same methods across different sociopolitical and socioeconomic contexts (Shalaby 2016). This reality is especially true for countries in the Middle East and North Africa, where strong ties between religion and politics, coupled with a deeply rooted patriarchal social system, collide to create a very particular space for women in society. Due to these varying realities, I argue that literature on gender and development should highlight the many instances in which women are partaking in grassroots development efforts that are context specific and therefore effectively empower women in their day-to-day lives.
Morocco serves as one of many examples of how politics, religion and patriarchal traditions affect the way women achieve empowerment in the MENA region. However, this complicated reality has not kept women throughout the country from pushing for gender equality. The past few decades have witnessed the emergence of several grassroots organizations that have taken strides toward transforming gender norms through the economic empowerment of women (Brand 1998). Grassroots organizations such as the nonprofit Amal Restaurant and Training Center in Marrakech, the cooperative COPITADAL in Mirador and the women’s organization Association Forum De Femme in Al-Hoceima (AFFA) are examples of initiatives that involve Moroccan women in the economy in ways that are compatible to the socioeconomic and sociopolitical realities of their area, thereby providing women with nontraditional avenues toward economic empowerment.
The aforementioned grassroots organizations aim to serve some of the most disenfranchised women in society by responding to social issues that affect women’s ability to enter the workforce, such as illiteracy, limited job opportunities and social stigmas. Using different models and functioning within different areas of expertise, grassroots organizations that focus on women’s economic empowerment tend to have a similar goal: providing women with marketable technical and social skills as well as access to networks necessary to begin procuring an income of their own. More importantly, they do so in a way that responds to the needs and possibilities of their area. The Amal Center, for example, focuses on teaching skills that will allow women to exploit Marrakech’s tourism industry and the subsequent high demand for workers in the restaurant business. AFFA, on the other hand, responds to high illiteracy rates among rural women in northern Morocco and subsequently finds ways to integrate legal literacy, courses on the recently revised family code and women’s health education into their mission. COPITADAL, in contrast, responded to the lack of job opportunities for women by starting the first cooperative in Morocco to specialize in art and decorative work, entering an otherwise unexplored market and therefore gaining a good amount of recognition.
Although the skills imparted by each organization vary, most employ similar techniques to reach their goals. Primarily, these techniques include offering training courses in different technical skills, including everything from cooking and baking to decorative or textile work. Apart from these technical skills, several organizations also offer courses in management and marketing to provide women with valuable business experience that will facilitate entrance and success in the labor force. Additionally, most grassroots organizations focus significant energy on encouraging members to take literacy courses in order to gain important information and skills needed to advocate for their own rights and signal credibility once in the workplace.
Moreover, grassroots organizations also provide women with access to opportunities they may not have been privy to beforehand by integrating them into social and economic networks in the area. The fact that these organizations are often run by community members facilitates job placement for women by connecting them with possible employers. Beyond this, taking part in training sessions and working with other women allows members to build their own networks outside of the home and therefore expand their social capital. Ultimately, this means that women are able to take advantage of the immediate income and trainings made available through the organizations but also, if they so choose, branch out and use the skills and networks they gain to partake in their own economic ventures, something the president of COPITADAL took great pride in (Koubia 2015).
Despite the fact that these small-scale businesses are not highly profitable, they are often some of the only ways in which women who are a part of marginalized groups in society can enter the workforce. This is an important step toward economic empowerment for women who spent most of their lives performing unpaid work within their families. According to members of AFFA and COPITADAL, this kind of economic autonomy is important for enacting social change because it allows marginalized women and families to redefine what is acceptable and possible for women in society (Ajraoui 2015). Undoubtedly, this model can be applied to many other countries in the Middle East and North Africa where low-income women face similar socioeconomic and sociopolitical obstacles that keep them from entering the workplace.
References:
Ajraoui, Nadia. 2015. Personal communication with the author.
Brand, Laurie A. 1998. Women, the State, and Political Liberalization: Middle Eastern and North African Experiences. New York: Columbia University Press.
Koubia, Zohra. 2015. Personal communication with the author.
Shalaby, Marwa. 2016. “Deconstruction of Women’s Empowerment in the Middle East and North Africa.” Unpublished manuscript.
Cecilia Garza is a senior at Brown University majoring in development studies and an intern for the Baker Institute Women’s Rights in the Middle East program.