Study Reveals 52% of Moroccan Women Face Domestic Violence, Highlighting Ongoing Challenges

The 2023 edition of this compilation, which presents in figures and graphs the evolution of the situation of Moroccan women over the past two decades as well as the challenges to be met for their emancipation, was published on the occasion of National Women’s Day. This document contains important and useful information for decision-making and the definition of public policies concerning women, indicates the HCP.

In Morocco, women continue to suffer all kinds of violence. In 2019, 15.4% of them were victims of violence in the workplace and 52.1% in a family or conjugal context, the HCP reveals. Similarly, 34.6% of women were victims of attacks on individual freedom, psychological violence (49.1%) or physical violence (13.3%) and economic violence (15.1%). Rates that have increased compared to previous years, notes the compilation, which specifies that 10.5% of women aged 15 and over were victims of sexual violence by a person who is not their spouse in the last 12 months, compared to 2.2% for men.

Morocco has more single women than in previous years, according to the HCP, which indicates that 40.7% of women aged 15 and over are single, compared to 28.3% for men. In addition, child marriage is declining in the kingdom, with 13.7% of women aged 20-24 married before the age of 18, compared to 15.9% in 2004, and 0.5% of women married before the age of 15, compared to 2.5% in 2004.

The document also reveals that in 2022, the labor market was mainly dominated by men with diplomas aged 25-59, with a rate of 98.2% compared to 33.2% for women. As a result, the unemployment rate is higher among women aged 15 to 34 (32.7%) than among men (19.8%). Similarly, 37.3% of these women are neither in education, employment nor training (NEET), compared to only 13.5% for men. Also, women have fought to occupy important positions of responsibility. In 2021, 29.1% of women sat in the government and 24.3% in Parliament, the HCP reports, adding that 39.8% were elected in the regional elections and 29.8% in the municipal elections.