COVID-19 Exacerbates Gender and Social Inequalities in Morocco, Activist Warns

According to Oumayma Achour, president of the Joussour Forum of Moroccan Women association and activist for women’s rights, intergenerational disparities, gender inequalities, and spatial inequalities between rural and urban areas have widened with the health crisis.

The activist for women’s rights evokes these inequalities that are rooted in the legal system and have always existed. She also calls for a review of these laws that deepen inequalities, towards equity, or even parity, between men and women, reports Hespress.

In these times of confinement, telework, which has been a solution for some public and private companies and organizations, reveals some not always happy realities, with concerns such as working hours, breaks, and work accidents. Several women have had to combine telework with household chores, cooking, responsibilities towards children, and e-learning responsibilities. An accumulation that has had repercussions on women, since the sector is neither regulated nor institutionalized.

The injustices done to women are also the Covid-19 special fund that has rather failed in the hands of men. Men who are absent in the accomplishment of household tasks and prompt to domestic violence, verbal or physical, which it is impossible for the woman to bring before the competent authorities.

The assistance centers for battered women were closed due to the epidemic, as were the courts, which relegated the majority of cases deemed non-priority.

In short, the lack of sharing of tasks, added to the increase in requirements and expectations from the spouse, all this has led to a climate of tension and stress. Thus, confinement has exposed all the misery that is done to the Moroccan woman, concludes Oumayma Achour.