Moroccan Women Face Setbacks in Job Market, Study Reveals

The HCP study mainly took into account the period marked by the coronavirus pandemic and which led to the state of health emergency and full confinement. Out of an occupied active population of around 10.5 million, the number of active employed women reached around 2.4 million during the second quarter of 2020 against a workforce of 2.6 million recorded during the same quarter of 2019.

The drop was more pronounced in the rural world, going from 28.4% to 23.0% during the same period, while in urban areas this rate is around 14.7%. As for the weekly working hours of women, more than half (53%) of the working hours were lost compared to the second quarter of 2019.

According to the same source, the HCP also highlighted the enormous decrease in the total weekly number of hours worked by women. It fell from 90 million hours in the second quarter of 2019 to 42 million hours in the second quarter of 2020. Women who engage in certain activities are relatively young, less educated or without diplomas. They are found much more in the "agriculture, forestry and fishing" sector with a share of 43.3% of female employment, followed by "services" with a share of 42.4% and that of "industry including crafts", with 13.8%.

The coronavirus pandemic and the restrictive measures taken by the Moroccan authorities have only highlighted the realities that Moroccan women are experiencing in the world of work.