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By Azize Kour - Sale
I have chosen to endeavour investigating this topic basically because of personal and psychological motives and needs. Actually, Igrew up in the countryside, and I never gave a second thought to interrogate the suffering of women in my family in a patriarchal context par excellence. Because of the debate we have had so far on feminism(s), I have started viewing things differently. My first hand experience in the countryside is of great relevance and help to me in this regard .
The achievements of the Moroccan woman:
The Moroccan woman is part and parcel of the universal movement in which the courage and struggle of some women herald the emancipation of others. Moroccan women are tirelessly determined to stand firm centuries of ignorance. No wonder that the Moroccan woman in all her so-called ‘vulnerability’, stepped into a world that that had previously belonged to men. They have chosen ‘men-only’ careers: pilots, journalists, researchers, writers because women need financial independence or psychological growth. Associations to assist women and their children have been created.(e.g. Insaf (National Institute for the Distressed Women) and LDDF (ligue des droits des femmes/league for the rights of women).Women were easily prone to the sentence/threat “I repudiate you”. Do all these feminist achievements apply to women in the countryside? is the question this article sets out to answer.
The plight of women in the countryside:
Illiteracy:
In 2004 census, 89? of women in rural areas are illiterate. Women are victims of insufficient (or the lacking off) education though the article 13 in the Moroccan constitution stipulates “All citizens (worth noting here that women are viewed as second class citizens) are granted the right to education and employment”. Strikingly telling is that feminist movements call for educated women to subvert and question male explanation/interpretation of the religious texts. Illiterate women in the countryside are secluded; professor Amrani said, in this respect, “If you are secluded for a long time, you become ignorant and dependent on the men”. Women in rural areas have little knowledge of the reform in the family law. Women illiteracy, to my mind, is meant to consolidate the old conservatisms in the countryside.
Poverty:
Most women in the countryside are poor, and their poverty has laid them open to abuse. Thus they are forced to marry at an early age, and against their will and preference. Young girls at the schooling age are sold/ traded on as maids in the cities, and their patriarchal tutor takes all the money they earn. These maids are easy prey to rape (and therefore victims of honour killing) which later on makes them impregnated and unwed mothers, and consequently abandon their babies. Those who are married are ceaselessly prone to all types and styles of mistreatment. They are physically and verbally ‘violenced against’. They work unrewardedly all day long: they work in the fields (plough/reap…), tend the sheep and goats, weave, take care of children and the household. They are, however, craftswomen with great artistry: excellent weavers, but unfortunately with the invasion of Western lifestyle, rural outfits are now to some extent losing their authenticity and becoming a mere folklore to be displayed to tourists. Rural woman, as a matter of fact, ensures family’s material and spiritual unity. Recently, these women have created and founded cooperatives (of Argan oil in the South). All in all, women in the countryside are suffering in silence and live inconspicuous lives. If some feminist (postcolonial) thinkers argue that women are doubly colonized, I would contend that countryside women re multicolonized. In spite of all the aforementioned hardships, women are very active, and they represent 50? of the active rural population.
Emigration:
I shall encircle this issue in the light of the Moroccan movie ‘ragged’ (the sleeping child) which recounts the story of Zineb and Khadija whose husbands immigrate to Spain. They leave the two wives facing all hardships of life alone. Zineb bears a child, and superstitiously endorm it waiting for its father to come back. Khadija’s husband disappears and leaves her with two children. In brief, the movie exemplifies the plight of women in the countryside I outlined above. To sum up all these sufferings that rural women live up to, Abderrahman Youssoufi, (Prime Minister from 1998 to 2002) said, during his mandate, “The government looks at it on the basis that there is great deal lacking when it comes to women here [Morocco], especially in the countryside, in the areas of education, information and health, as well a social and economic rights.”
Feminist consciousness in rural areas:
Women gather in the cooperatives. They embark in sensitizing each other upon daily and family concerns. They have joined programs of fighting illiteracy; they start to be enlightened. But I believe that the influence their urban counterparts exert via associations have not yet reached these women. Could we argue, so this argument goes, that although feminist movements aim at uplifting all kind of oppression and injustice and guarantee gender equity remain a failure vis-à-vis rural women? Or could we ‘condemn’ them of being class-oriented movements (upper-middle class women) and therefore elitist? Since many women in the countryside are Amazigh, could we talk or start to theorize for Amazigh feminism(s) especially if we know that down in history, Amazigh people were governed by a queen called ‘Kahina’?
Though some people still contend that Moroccan woman is ambivalent in that she is the guardian of Moroccan cultural values at home and the proponent of modernity outside the house, they serve the nation with sensitivity and enthusiasm. Special care and equity are to be rightfully ‘bestowed’ upon women in the countryside so as to assure the country’s welfare. It goes without saying that no nation can thrive with an illiterate, stereotyped, oppressed, but important half of the active rural population. An unknown poet once said “woman is the future of the man.”
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Morocco World News’ editorial policy
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