Women in Moroccan local elected councils: When the law does not change society

Abstract

Morocco has adopted several legislative measures to strengthen the representation of women within elected local councils. Consequently, the number of women elected increased considerably. The legislature seems forcing the social change. However, the main results of this paper is that these measures failed to establish a local gender equality. Women remain under-represented compared to men on local elected councils. In addition to underrepresentation, women are generally excluded from senior positions within local council offices. The presidency of the councils suffers from a male monopoly. To analyze these findings, this paper uses a theoretical approach which examines the Moroccan case in the light of pioneering studies in the matter, and an empirical approach which refers to the results of both observation and official statistics.