The women's Question in Morocco

1 - The belief prevails in the individual, man or woman, that the source of the social relations that he experiences, whether within the family, at work or in the street, and whether he belongs to the working class, the petty bourgeoisie or the high bourgeoisie, are natural, biological relations and not acquired relations as a result of the overlap of many dialectical factors.

2 - This superficial perception of social relations is the same as the superficial perception that one acquires about the relations of oppression against women within the society in which he lives. He considers them as if they were natural biological relations, and he tries to provide dozens of superficial religious, psychological and biological justifications to justify this relationship and thus perpetuate it.

3- But the source of the relationship of women’s oppression, like the source of social relationships, remains acquired relationships, which many independent sociologists such as Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels had previously considered originating with the moment of the emergence of private property, class division and division of labor, as they dated to this moment in the Upper Stone Age, i.e. With the so-called agrarian revolution, and thus they asserted that this oppression would only disappear as a result of the disappearance of private property and class division.

4 - Based on this general introduction, we will briefly discuss the history of women's oppression in Morocco until the emergence of the capitalist mode of production, then the image of women's oppression between classes and within each class separately, and then finally present a number of indicators about the economic and social status of Moroccan women.

First: The origins of women's oppression

1 - Women play a central role in the continuation of human life, whether at the level of their role in producing the necessities of daily life or in ensuring the continuity of life through the birth of children as new productive forces.

2 - Women have continued to play this central role in light of the successive modes of production, and where the relationship of women with their surroundings has continued to vary according to the different nature of the ideological, political and legal superstructures, and consequently they are forced to try to adapt to them.

3- With early human awareness of the central role of women in producing and reproducing direct life and with the emergence of agricultural production, private ownership and division of labor, the family institution appeared historically as an economic unit, and patriarchal authority emerged as a means of male control over females within the family institution with the associated male oppression of women Historically as a means of maintaining patriarchal economic and political dominance on which ancient states and empires were built.

4- The historical oppression of women as a social and economic relationship will make the patriarchal authority and the class domination generated by it as an economic, social and political basis in building the first political units of the family, clan and state and their subsequent development into states and empires. Like all forms of domination in its three economic, social and political dimensions, class political struggles have also arisen between men and women and between those who own and those who do not, a class struggle that shaped the course of history in the process of its development.

5- The historical process of Moroccan society provides us with a model for such a development, especially as a result of the historical collision of the Berber tribes and societies that formed the cradle of the emergence of Moroccan society and the invasions launched by other peoples on North Africa, especially the Arab-Islamic invasion starting in the seventh century AD. The trend of male class domination, economic, social and political over North Africa has become the basis for the formation of the various successive states in the North African region, especially in the geographical area occupied by the present Morocco.

6- Researching the origins of women’s oppression in Morocco cannot ignore the historical dimensions referred to above, which formed the effective basis for the process of forming families, tribes and the political power of the ruling families, which Ibn Khaldun succeeded brilliantly in describing in his introduction and making it the basis of tribal fanaticism and the rise and collapse of states in the north Africa. The emergence of the active Hegelian "historical figure" who led the rule and succession of families does not depart from this process.

7- The historical link between the process of class struggle and the transformed position of women according to the transformation of the ideological and political domination of the dominant classes, constitutes a necessary introduction for any researcher of this position throughout history. Therefore, we may encounter historical periods, especially in the shadow of the Amazigh tribes, before they were exposed to foreign invasions, a distinct situation for women in which they enjoy real and tangible equality with men. Indeed, Amazigh women exercised effective political leadership, and we mention here the distinguished and active role of the Amazigh queen “Dehya” in the fierce resistance to the invasion Islamic Arab. The archaeological traces of the Romans, the Phoenicians and the Carthaginians in North Africa also reveal to us the status that women enjoyed, which amounted to representing them as holy goddesses.

8 - What concerns us in this paper is the reality of Moroccan women today in light of the capitalist mode of production. Within the family, within society, and in the midst of the ongoing class struggle. The dominance of patriarchal authority over women within the family as a basic economic unit. He considers it the existing mode of production as the basis for total social control, economic exploitation and political domination. From here, it is possible to achieve a material understanding of the position of women within the Moroccan family - as a child bearer, a nanny, and a domestic worker - and also as a seller of labor power outside the home as an indicator of the double oppression of women within the family, in addition to the absence of basic rights to work outside the home.

9- The relationship of women's struggles with social transformation in general appears as an urgent issue on the revolutionary agenda, which stems from the central role of women in the reproduction of labor power in the context of comprehensive social reproduction. In order to locate the oppression of women in terms of social reproduction and the reproduction of labor power, many concepts must be defined, starting with the concept of the labor power itself that produces an economic surplus inside the family and outside the home.

Secondly, the class oppression of women

1 - The contradiction within the family between the husband as an owner and the wife as a dependent non-owner, has led to the economic dependence of the woman and the decline of her legal status.

2 - This position of Moroccan women was established in light of the semi-feudal situation that preceded the political dominance of French imperialism over Morocco. Moroccan peasant families preferred to have males over females, and tried to marry off females early to ensure their economic stability, albeit from a position of dependence on their husbands. Whereas a man could religiously marry four women to have male children, and also divorce his women and marry others to have male children. This situation has consecrated the class inferiority of women towards men, and women's loss of any legitimacy vis-à-vis men.

3 - The period of the French imperialist invasion marked the beginning of the destabilization of the old semi-feudal economic patterns and the social situation associated with them, in favor of a gradual dominance of the capitalist mode of production, both within cities where labor power is sold and bought as a commodity, in return for low wages that enable the male or female worker to have a kind of liberation towards the patriarchal authority. . And where the strong migration developed intensively towards the cities after the foreign colonialists took control of the best agricultural lands and transformed them into capitalist farms and transformed the peasants into agricultural wages. These developments played a role in the emergence of the nuclear family inside the cities and its transformation into an economic unit in the service of capitalist production, and the continuation of women’s subordination to patriarchal authority within these families as an essential factor in the production and reproduction of life, and the blessing of the authorities and the prevailing laws of men’s control over women as a mainstay in return for the subjugation of the working class for bourgeois exploitation.

4 - After the direct exit of French colonialism, Morocco inherited double economic and social structures between cities located on the most important Moroccan ports, such as Casablanca, Agadir, Tangiers and Kenitra, known for industrial and economic development based on export, and where the growth of nuclear families was more independent of patriarchy. Whether as a working-class proletarian class with its simple lifestyles in the margins of cities. Or a petty bourgeoisie working mainly in the service sector, trade and public service. Or a high bourgeoisie that employed various types of industries, internal and external trade, and owning real estate and modern agricultural estates. While many of the inner Moroccan cities remained dominated by the rural character, agricultural production and the persistence of backward semi-feudal social structures. And where women lack many rights, whether within the family, where economic dependence and multiple marriages, or within the work, where women are exposed to outrageous exploitation and sexual assaults. The oppression of Moroccan women in its old forms still exists in the backward inner cities and villages, and it is further perpetuated by the tyranny of the religious tendency that allows polygamy and the patriarchal authority that delegitimizes females and elevates the status of males. All are traditions and customs that reproduce the same system of traditional women's oppression. Religious parties play a central role in consolidating and preserving ancient customs.

5- Despite the fact that Moroccan women are victims of modern forms of double oppression in light of the capitalist exploitation of the labor force within the nuclear family, and victims of traditional forms of oppression of women fueled by patriarchal authority and the tyranny of religious tendency, the resulting transformations under the influence of the capitalist mode of production pushed a number of petty-bourgeois women towards Emancipation due to their gaining economic independence and completing their studies, to the struggle within petty bourgeois women’s movements that aspire to establish rights and laws that achieve freedom and equality for women in the face of males and patriarchal authority, and to demand the abolition of a number of religious provisions such as polygamy and the inheritance system.

6 - There is also a proletarian women's movement, which has arisen and developed since the sixties of the twentieth century, led by the mothers, sisters and daughters of political prisoners during the so-called years of embers and bullets. This movement was reinforced and developed by the left militants, especially the Marxist-Leninists, the comrades and friends of the political prisoners. Where they contributed to the development of the women’s discourse with its class content and considered that getting rid of feudal oppression and capitalist exploitation can only be achieved under socialism, which will only be achieved by the actions of workers and peasants, women and men themselves.

7 - The shock of the capitalist mode of production, to the extent that it produced from the obscene exploitation of the labor power of women and men within the cities and within capitalist farms, in turn liberated huge numbers of women from the old forms of oppression. The new situation also opened the way for the emergence of women's movements that could not have appeared in the former semi-feudal Moroccan society, and this opened new opportunities for the development of women's struggle despite the different demands between classes.

8 - The bourgeois women, who have access to private property and the cognitive and material possibilities, are able to develop their personality and choose their way of life as they wish. However, bourgeois Moroccan women as wives still suffer forms of oppression from their husbands as a result of backward family laws, which still grant many rights to men at the expense of women, such as the inheritance system and polygamy, for example. The rule of wealth and money, usually in the hands of bourgeois men, pushes the level of oppression of bourgeois women to its limits.

9- Women of the petty-bourgeoisie also suffer from special forms of oppression, although the members of this social group are usually liberal and educated and live in big cities, but their relatively stable financial situation makes them more liberal towards marriage and more inclined to sexual relations outside marriage. In view of the traditional culture and the backward view of men towards women, the relationship of men and women among the petty bourgeoisie is still subject to the tyranny of women's oppression and the persistence of patriarchal authority within the families of the petty bourgeoisie. It is noticeable that it was the petty-bourgeois circles that encouraged the flourishing of prostitution among working women, due to low wages and also among unemployed women. In view of the rampant phenomenon of prostitution in the big cities as a sexual commodity that compensates the working women for idleness and satisfies the desires of males who are reluctant to marry, the petty-bourgeois view of women is becoming increasingly backward and pushes towards the emergence of forms of violence against women. The emancipation of women in this environment is also dependent on the financial situation of women and their ability to own property and economic independence, which remains rare in light of the backwardness of family laws. The petty-bourgeois women's rush to acquire knowledge and practice some professions such as law or political engagement makes them fierce fighters for women's rights, even from their sterile bourgeois perspective, but it contributes to the crystallization of general liberation thought.

10- The position of the Moroccan proletarian woman differs from that of the women of the petty bourgeoisie and the upper bourgeoisie, in that they are forced to work under hideous exploitation, whether in textile factories or in other industries for companies handling with foreign companies, under conditions where there are no sound conditions for work and low wages. Despite such circumstances, the proletarians accept these forms of work with the aim of liberating themselves from the constraints of patriarchy, gaining a kind of economic independence, and helping their poor families. Proletarian women are subject, in a material way, to double oppression within the family, where domestic work, direct life production and childbearing are unpaid work, although capitalism achieves the free replacement and renewal of labor power, and its exploitation in the workplace, in the complete absence of safety conditions and for low wages. Therefore, the revolutionary women's movements seek to make the struggle for liberation and the rights of working women and peasants at the forefront of the socialist struggle.

Third: The economic and social indicators of the situation of Moroccan women

1 - Measuring the extent of Moroccan women’s oppression does not stem from theoretical considerations only and from value judgments that may be arbitrary, but based in large part on the various factors that constitute the social existence of women’s daily material life. Therefore, this measure must be based on a number of material factors such as education, health, employment, equal pay, rights and duties stipulated in the Family Code, and the extent to which Law No. 103-13 is able to combat violence against women. The following are a number of tangible economic and social indicators of the situation of Moroccan women.

2 - The development of the education sector, its content and concepts under the capitalist production pattern, to constitute an inexhaustible source for the provision of qualified or semi-qualified forces according to the needs of producing surplus value and the development of capital accumulation. In this context, the philosophy of spending on the education sector developed according to the evolution of the class struggle, as spending on education was an individual issue for people and their needs for the use value of education due to the social advancement it achieves for individuals. But with the increasing public demand for education at its various levels, capitalism was able to transform the need for education into an exchange value and thus into class education. But with the escalation of the demands of the workforce, including the provision of democratic popular education in exchange for the surplus value that the state deducts in the form of taxes, public education appeared and expanded at the beginning of the twentieth century, and became a necessary public facility for the children of the working class and at the same time a source for the production of qualified labor to serve the needs capital accumulation.

3 - The education policies adopted by the governments of capitalist societies continued to treat the costs of the education sector according to its profitability, even if the measurement of this profitability was in the medium and long term. Financing these costs has also been a source of various financial, economic, social and political crises, and a source of class struggle. Education has become ranging between public education and private education at an expensive cost, as the knowledge and pedagogical gap between them is widening.

4 - In this context, the educational policies in our country have plunged into crises that do not end until new crises are launched, and since we live in a capitalist society, it can be asserted that they are objective crises that reflect the weight of the education sector’s burden on profit rates and the real surplus value deducted from wage labor. And where costs should not exceed the rates of these profits. On the other hand, we find that they are fabricated crises to reduce public spending on education by destroying it at the level of content and at the level of means.

5 - The advancement of women and their economic independence within the existing capitalist society requires them to benefit from free public education of high quality, which enables them to obtain stable employment and financial independence, thus reducing men’s control over their lives. However, the suffering of educational policies from periodic crises constantly reduces women’s chances of education and their further advancement, which often makes them leave school early, especially in the deserts, and makes them accept living jobs with low wages.

6- According to the statistics of the Ministry of National Education, Vocational Training, Higher Education and Scientific Research, the rates of female enrollment in all primary and primary education sectors from 2000 to 2020 remained at lower levels than male enrollment, whether in public or private education, and ranged between 46 and 47 percent.

7- The national dropout rates are still high, especially the relatively high dropout rate of girls, which reaches 4%. Meanwhile, the high school dropout rate for girls has reached 10.4 percent in recent years. While the dropout rate of girls in the secondary qualifying stage was 9.6%.

8 - With the illiteracy rate among the population aged 10 years and over in 2014, 32%, 8.6 million of them are female. The illiteracy rate is still higher in rural areas, 47.7%, compared to 22.2% in cities, and among women 41.9% than among men, 22.1%.

9 - The low level of female education is reflected in their fields of work. At the national level, it has been noted that 70.2% of working women do not have an educational level, or 56.3% of them have a basic level in the first stage.

10. This situation is more alarming in rural areas, where the proportion of uneducated working women of the working population reached 75.6 per cent in 2013. The situation also remains alarming in urban areas, on average, 22.3 per cent.

11- The suffering of Moroccan women from the persecution of educational policies goes beyond the stages of education and joining work, to the suffering of the teaching women themselves, especially with the resort to these policies to destroy the permanent regular status of male and female teachers and replace that with limited contracts that strike in depth the stability of the work of female teachers who are subject to expulsion and deprivation of work for personal reasons Far from the rights guaranteed by the civil service law within the framework of the regular situation.

12 - Similar to the education sector, the health sector has also been subject to shifts in the balance of power as a result of the ongoing class struggle between the working class and the dominant capitalist forces through their government policies. The health sector has risen towards the public facility as a result of the necessities of the conditions of capital accumulation when the productive sectors required large numbers of female workers and male workers in good health to avoid stopping production, and consequently the decline in capital gains rates. But with the transition of the capitalist mode of production to relying solely on mechanization and modern technologies in production, which greatly reduced the number of female workers and workers. In contrast, the increase in the population, the number of the unemployed, the increasing demand for public health facilities and the high costs of spending on this sector, the bourgeoisie policies gradually began to shift away from taking care of this sector by closing public clinics and replacing them with expensive private clinics, i.e. towards a class health sector.

13 - The most vulnerable segments of society to the persecution of health policies are Moroccan women, especially in rural areas that lack even the presence of clinics, rather doctors, medicines and primary health care.

14- In this context, we find that the number of women of fertile age between 15 and 49 years with unmet needs who do not use any method of contraception, and who report their unwillingness to have more children or the desire to delay the next child, is 11.3 per cent. year 2018.

15 - For the same reasons, the maternal mortality ratio (per 100,000 live births) in 2020 reached 72.6%, including 44.6% in cities and 111% in the countryside. While the neonatal mortality rate in 2018 was: 13.6%, while the infant mortality rate during their first year reached 18%, and the mortality rate for children under five years of age was 22%.

16. Gender inequalities persist in the field of health, both in urban and rural areas. Also, early pregnancy is still associated with an increased risk of health problems and death in women.

17. At the national level, the age of first marriage for Moroccan women has decreased to 25.8 years (31.4 years for men), of which 26.4 years in urban areas (32.1 years for men) and 24.9 years in rural areas (30 , 3 years (years for men), one of the reasons for the decline in fertility and the rate of premature births. It is important to note the critical role that education plays in monitoring pregnancy, as 98.9% of women with a high school diploma resort to antenatal care compared to only 70.3% of women without a certificate.

18 - It should also be noted that the level of education is an important factor in decision-making during childbirth, as 99.4% of women with secondary education received assistance from a qualified medical staff during childbirth, compared to only 65.9% for those who did not have a level educational.

19. Significant disparities were also observed in terms of vaccination against the six targeted diseases: tuberculosis, polio, tetanus, measles, diphtheria and whooping cough, according to place of residence and socioeconomic level. Also, being underweight affects 4.7% of children under the age of five who live in rural areas, compared to only 1.7% in urban areas.

20. According to socioeconomic level, children under five from lower social backgrounds are significantly more underweight than those from richer socioeconomic backgrounds (6.7% vs. 1.1%).

21. By gender, boys are affected more than girls by rates of stunting for children under five years of age around 15.8% and 14%, respectively in 2011, 19.1% and 17.1% in 2004, and 22.9% and 22.4% in 1992 and 16.6% and 15.8% in 1987, respectively. Note that vitamin and iron deficiencies are important in women and children. Thus, about a third of children between the ages of 6 months and 5 years have iron deficiency anemia. This also applies to pregnant women and of childbearing age, where the prevalence of iron deficiency anemia is 37,2%. Similarly, vitamin A and D deficiency affects one in four children under the age of five and about one in ten children, respectively.

22 - Employment policies since the entry of French colonialism into Morocco have been subject to the conditions of capital accumulation and attempts to adapt Moroccan society to the conditions of capital accumulation. lush; This process enabled the influx of the rural population to the margins of the cities and their formation of the so-called reserve army to work, and thus the formation and development of the numbers of the Moroccan working class deprived of the means of production and working for low wages on the margins of the major cities. Where broad categories of working women were formed.

23 - The exit of the colonial authorities from Morocco in 1956 did not change this strategy, as local capital continued to exploit agricultural production to develop manufacturing industries within the cities, and also through the transformation of agricultural estates in the Badia into capital projects that depend on the superior mechanization of agricultural industrial production. export oriented. While the female and male labor force in the Badia is exploited as agricultural workers with wages less than the minimum wage. In the cities, female workers and workers are exposed to all forms of capitalist exploitation.

24. According to figures from the High Commissioner for Statistics, the percentage of working women aged 15 years and over working in the agriculture, forestry and fishing sectors in 2020, reached 30.8 per cent, including 17.8 per cent in the cities and 32.1 per cent in the countryside. While the percentage of women working in the industrial sector, including the handicraft sector, in the same year reached 25.2 percent, including 26.0 percent in the cities and 20.0 percent in the countryside. As for women working in the service sector, it reached 19.0 percent, of whom 21.4 percent were in the cities and 6.5 percent in the countryside.

25. The proportion of uneducated working women in the working population increased from 88.8 per cent in 1999 to 75.6 per cent in 2013. This situation also remains worrying in urban areas, on average, 22.3 per cent.

26 - The gap between working women and men workers according to their level of education is large compared to the level of higher education. The percentage of working women is 10.2% compared to 7.2% for men, especially in urban areas, 23% for women compared to 12% for men. This situation explains the high percentage of unemployed women in higher education in the female labor force, especially in urban areas. It should be noted that active women with higher education are almost absent in rural areas (0.6% as men, 1.3%).

27. Between 1999 and 2014, approximately 1.96 million net jobs were created, i.e. an increase in the total volume of employment (total working population aged 15 years and over) by an average of 1.2% per year (1.3% on average) per year for men and 0.8% on average per year for women). This development resulted from an increase in urban employment (the working population in urban areas) at an average of 1.7% per year (1.9% for men and 0.9% for women), in addition to a slight increase of 0.7% per year in rural areas (an increase of 0.6% for men and 0.8% for women).

28. The development of parity between males and females at the employment level indicates that men occupy a job three times more than women. Analysis by region of residence also indicates that male/female parity is more uneven in urban than in rural areas (4 times in urban areas and twice in rural areas). It should also be noted that the gender parity gap in rural areas is explained much more by the importance of female disadvantage compared to men than by the difficulty of accessing work.

29. An analysis of the nature of the jobs held by men and women reveals the strong presence of women in sectors with low productivity. Thus, the jobs held by women vary greatly according to their level of education, with a high proportion of women, without an education level, in low-productivity sectors and low-skilled jobs, in both urban and rural areas. As a result, women remain at risk and receive lower compensation (most work as unpaid workers).

30- An analysis of the development of the active occupied population by gender and branch of activity for the period 1999-2013 shows a significant presence of women compared to men in the primary sector (agriculture, forestry and fishing), with an average share of about 60% of the total number of working women compared to 36.6% for men. They are also more present in the industry, at 15.3%, compared to 11.6% for men. The presence of women prevails in the textile, hosiery, clothing, footwear and leather industries with an average share between 1999 and 2013 of approximately 78.5% of all women working in the manufacturing industries (it went from 84.4% in 1999 to 69.5% in 2013).

31 - According to the data of annual surveys conducted by the Ministry of Industry, Trade, Investment and the Digital Economy, the rate of feminization of employment in industry (the proportion of women in the total permanent workers in the industry) increased to 44.4% in 2013. According to the branches of activity, the textile industry, the supplier The main female employment among industrial activities is an increase in the rate of feminization of permanent employment, which rose from 64.1% in 2012 to 67.9% in 2013 without reaching the rate recorded in 1999 (70.5%).

32. The total number of permanent female workers in the industrial sector reached 243,073 female workers in 2013, compared to 240,683 permanent female workers in 2012. Women working in the textile and leather industry represent 49.1% of women working in industrial activities, followed by women working in the textile and leather industry. The agricultural industry (24.3%), the electrical and electronics industry (14.4%), the chemical and semi-chemical industry (7.5%) and the mechanical and metallurgical industry (4.8%).

33. In 2013, the Trade and Reform Branch employed 133,126 women compared to 121,155 women in 2012, an increase of 9.8%. The rate of feminization of the commercial branch reached 9.2% in 2013 compared to 8.6% in 2012. According to the professional status, 62,492 women work on their own, which is approximately 47% of the total number of women working in the commercial branch.

34. By region, on average, between 1999-2013, approximately 80.1 per cent of working rural women had unpaid family assistance status in general. While the percentage of working men living in rural areas and enjoying an average family breadwinner status did not exceed 33% during the same period.

35. In cities, approximately 77.9% of female workers are employed in wages, compared to an average of 59.6% for men between 1999 and 2013. It should be noted in this regard that waged female employment in urban areas has intensified to reach 80% in 2013.

36- The results of the national survey of the informal sector in Morocco 2006-2007 revealed that this sector represents 1.55 million informal production units. In 2007, it created a total number of 2,216,116 job opportunities, compared to 1,901,947 job opportunities in 1999, which is It represents an overall growth rate of 16.5%. Thus, the informal sector contributes 37.3 percent to total non-agricultural employment compared to 39 percent in 1999. Only 10.8 percent of jobs created in the informal sector are dedicated to women. Excluding agriculture, the informal sector creates 39.4% of all male jobs compared to 21% of female jobs.

37. In addition to discrimination against women in terms of activity, which is reflected in a lower activity rate, women also suffer from discrimination in access to work. This observation confirms the high unemployment rate among women, especially those with diplomas. The unemployment rate among women nationally in 2020 reached: 67.4 percent, compared to 51.4 percent among males. Among them, 67.5 percent are women in the cities, and 37.5 percent are women in the Badia. The unemployment of women remains higher than that of men.

38. Depending on the place of residence, urban women, especially those under the age of 44, are more affected by unemployment than their male counterparts. The largest gap (8.7 points) was observed in the 25-44 age group (23.7% on average between 1999 and 2014 for women versus only 15% for men). For the 15-24 age group, the average gap between female and male unemployment was 6 points between 1999 and 2014 (38.5% for women versus 32.5% for men). For people over the age of 45, the gaps narrowed dramatically between 1999 and 2014. The unemployment rate for women aged 45-59 was 5.2%, compared to 4.3% for men.

39. An analysis of the structure of unemployment by qualifications reveals that nearly two thirds of unemployed workers are graduates (three quarters of them are in cities). For men, the unemployed predominate who hold an intermediate-level diploma. Among women, female graduates at higher levels are the most affected by unemployment. Indeed, half of the unemployed with higher qualifications (50%) are women (140,545 women with higher qualifications are unemployed in 2013) and about 80% of them have never worked.

40. Despite the progress made since the 1990s, gender pay disparities remain significant. In fact, according to one study, the gender pay gap was 56% in 1991, 28% in 1999 and 17% in 2007. These disparities vary greatly by place of residence and individual characteristics.

41. According to this study, wage disparities by sex are about 27% in urban areas and 37% in rural areas, despite the fact that the returns associated with women's education are better than those of men (approximately 7% in 2007 compared to 4.8% for women's education). for men). The same applies to returns on professional experience with a return of 7.5% for women compared to 6.6% for men, with a decrease in wages after 28 years of work, i.e. near retirement.

42. According to this study, only 36.2% of the gender-related wage differentials can be explained by individual characteristics in 2007 (compared to 30.9% in 1991), while 63.8% of these disparities are explained by net discrimination in Wages against women (compared to 69.1% in 1991). This distinction is more pronounced in rural areas (92.6% versus 44.7% in urban areas) and in the primary sectors (about 105% for agriculture, versus 64% and 23%, respectively, in the industrial and service sectors). Although this gap has narrowed in recent years, it is still large.

43 - Among the forms of oppression of women that strike at the core of their being and their dignity, and push the previous manifestations of political and social oppression to their highest levels, is the practice of physical violence that threatens the body and life of women and their psychological and spiritual stability.

44 - The United Nations Universal Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women, issued in 1993, defines violence against women as a manifestation of unequal power relations between men and women throughout history, which have led to men’s domination and discrimination against women and prevent their full advancement. As for Moroccan Law 103-13 on combating violence against women, violence is defined as every physical or moral act or omission, based on gender discrimination, that results in physical, psychological, sexual or economic harm to a woman.

45. While the definition of the Universal Declaration affirms that violence against women is one of the critical social mechanisms by which women are placed in a subordinate position to men. The definition of Moroccan law does not concern itself with the purpose behind the practice of violence and is limited only to the material impact of the violence, and does not refer to its background.

46. According to the Planning Commission data published at the end of 2020, the forms of violence that Moroccan women have suffered are as follows:

• 73.5% of unemployed women have been subjected to violence, at a rate that exceeds 16 points the national average,

• 1.5 million women were victims of electronic violence, with a prevalence rate of 13.8%,

• 12.6% of women have been subjected to violence in public places during the past 12 months,

• 40.6% is the percentage of violence among women who own a separate bank account, lower than what is recorded among women who do not have a bank account (47%), and much lower compared to those who have a joint account with their husband (55.8%).

• 56.1% of women who own a private property are less vulnerable to violence than those who own property jointly with others 81.3%,

• 16% of women victims of violence stated that their children, between the ages of 5 and 18, suffer from health problems, especially of a behavioral and psychological nature.

• 2.85 billion dirhams is the cost of physical and sexual violence to families, and 1.98 billion dirhams is the cost of spousal violence to the family

• 57.8% of women declared their ignorance of Law 103.13 related to combating violence against women

47. According to the prevalence of violence among women in the group between 15 and 74 years, according to the forms of violence and the place of residence of the victim, the High Commission for Planning recorded the following rates in 2019:

- Physical violence, 12.9% at the national level, 13.2% in cities, and 12.3% in the villages;

- Sexual violence, 13.6% nationally, of which 14.8% are in cities and 11.3% in the villages;

-Psychological violence, 47.5% nationally, of which 47.8% are in cities, and 47.8% in the villages;

- Economic violence, 14.3% nationally, of which 14.2% are in cities, and 14.4% in the villages;

- Electronic violence, 13.8% nationally, of which 15.5% are in cities, and 9.4% in the villages.

48. Law 103-13 has attempted to define these various forms of violence on the basis of their immediate background. Physical violence is defined as any act or omission that affects, or is likely to affect, the physical integrity of a woman, regardless of the perpetrator, method, or place of perpetration. Sexual violence is also defined as any statement, act or exploitation that would prejudice the sanctity of a woman's body for sexual or commercial purposes, whatever the means used for that. Whereas psychological violence is defined as any verbal assault, coercion, threat, neglect or deprivation, whether it is for the purpose of harming the dignity, freedom and reassurance of a woman, or for the purpose of intimidating or intimidating her. On the other hand, economic violence is defined as any act or omission of an economic or financial nature that harms, or is likely to harm, the social or economic rights of women.

49 - Legislative policies stem from the country's social, political and economic reality and are based on the dominant historical and ideological heritage. The patriarchal authority and patriarchal hegemony, which we find features in various Moroccan legislation, invaded the Moroccan Berber population with the Arab Islamic invasion, that is, since the seventh century AD. All anthropological studies confirm that in the Amazigh society, a kind of equality prevailed between men and women, and great appreciation was given to women. There are many historical writings, such as the history of Ibn Khaldun, the history of Ibn Battuta, and other writings that talked about the status of women among the Masmoudah and Sanhaja Berber tribes, a situation that prevailed during the rule of the Almoravids.

50 - So, the historical decline in the role of Moroccan women occurred with the Arab-Islamic invasion that lasted until the thirteenth century, when patriarchal traditions and customs and the strong patriarchal authority that prevailed in the Arabian Peninsula were brought in, where female infanticide and polygamy prevailed and women were placed in second place where the girl is Half of the boy since birth. This historical, ideological and religious burden is gradually destroying local traditions and infiltrating the prevailing legislation that distinguishes the status of men at the expense of women's.

51 - Today's Family Code, adopted in 2003, still bears the effects of male domination and patriarchal authority, especially in the field of inheritance and in the field of guardianship over women in many social and economic transactions and behaviors.

52. The capitalist mode of production exploits this backward status of Moroccan women in legislative terms in order to intensify their economic oppression, especially in the area of wage disparities.

Moroccan Marxist-Leninist Proletariat Line (MMLPL)

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