Machismo in (Moroccan) politics!

It was already very late when I arrived in Rabat on Thursday 6 September. The purpose of my visit was the upcoming elections. With a group of people from all over Europe I was in Morocco to observe the elections. For the first time in history the Moroccan government allowed MRE’s (Marocain résident à l’étranger) to take part in the elections as international observers. The next morning, Friday 7 September, looked like any ordinary day. The streets were crowded. People rushed to work and students found their way to school. With two of my colleagues I arrived at the first polling station in a local school. The classroom was still empty. We sat in the back and watched people come in and cast their vote. Nothing out of the ordinary happened. I was particularly interested in women’s role in Moroccan politics. During the last elections in 2005 the number of women in parliament was at a historic highpoint. I was very curious to know how these elections would turn out for women.

Moroccan women's associations have been at the forefront of the push for more female representation in government. In 2002, the country’s political parties adopted a joint agreement which introduced a quota reserving 10% of parliament’s 325 seats for women. The quota provided the boost women needed to increase their representation in parliament. In comparison with the 1997 elections, the actual number of women in parliament increased from 4 (0.7%) to 35 (10.8%). Moroccan women’s associations had great hopes to increase this number in subsequent elections and consolidate women’s role in parliament. Unfortunately, when the Minister for Home Affairs announced the preliminary results on Saturday evening, it became clear that fewer women (34) were elected in parliament, leading many to question the state of women’s participation in Morocco’s politics.

The 2007 legislative elections returned the issue of women in parliament to centre stage in Morocco. Why did so little women get elected? In general the elections were very disappointing; only 37% of the electorate showed up, with a dramatic low point (27%) in Casablanca. The low turnout proved to be very disadvantageous for women. According to women’s associations and female candidates, Morocco needs to consider some real solutions to strengthen women’s role in politics. In the first place by increasing the number of women on the national lists and by setting quota for local lists. Secondly, political parties should support their female candidates. Statistics from the 2007 elections show that women figured at the heads of just 3% of the electoral lists and just 5% of the total number of candidates. Party leadership is still a male dominated field and, therefore, women’s voices are hardly heard.

This can be traced to the machismo that still reigns in Morocco and which makes the electoral battle for women very difficult. Many Moroccans, even women, continue to believe that political leadership is a man’s domain. During the campaign female candidates were attacked because they were women. The message their challengers sent came through loud and clear: ‘do not vote for a woman’.

Two weeks ago I was at a meeting where Ségolene Royal, the former French presidential candidate, gave a speech. She spoke about the presidential campaign and why she didn’t succeed in winning the elections. The message her challengers sent to the electorate was: ‘Political leadership is a man’s domain and women should stay home and take care of the children!’ Where did I hear this before? I can’t help but conclude that machismo reigns in politics all over the world! Maybe Hillary Clinton is more lucky!

Nadia Bouras, PhD candidate Leiden University, History Department, the Netherlands