WOMEN AND ECONOMIC PARTICIPATION IN MOROCCO

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WOMEN AND ECONOMIC PARTICIPATION IN MOROCCO

• ACTIVITY RATE AND PROFESSIONAL GENDER
  DISCRIMINATION
• WOMEN AND UNPAID WORK
• 3.FEMALE ENTREPRENEURS
• 4.RECOMMENDATIONS

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• 1. ACTIVITY RATE AND PROFESSIONAL GENDER
  DISCRIMINATION
• STRUCTURAL FACTORS DETERMINING LEVEL OF ECONOMIC
  PARTICIPATION OF WOMEN social relations based
  on gender,disparities between social classes,
  strategic and institutional role of the moroccan
  state.
• MODEST RATE OH WOMENS RATE OF ACTIVITY (
  28.4 in 2004)persistent gap between men and
  women ( 48.9 in 1983 and 49.1 in 2004)
• SPECIFITY OF THE CURVE OF ACTIVITY RATE OF
  MOROCCAN WOMEN (upside-down)

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• HORIZONTAL SEGREGATION(or employment by
  sector) concentration of women in the service
  sector( 56.7 of the total urban female
  population in 2002)women employed in poorly paid
  activities (personal and domestic services,social
  services to the community)
• In urban areas, a rather strong presence in
  manufacturing industries(36.3 of industrial
  employees),banks, insurance, real-estate-business
  (33.2)

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• A strong correlation between the share of female
  participation in the overall permanent workforce
  and its orientation towards the export industries
  (garments, electronics and electric appliances)
• A need to relativise positive impact of free
  trade and globalisation on gender(instable jobs,
  poor working conditions)absence of compliance to
  ILO Conventions 100 and 111

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• VERTICAL SEGREGATION due to differences in
  education, socio-cultural perceptions,
  employersdenial of the experrience and skills
  acquired by women through managing household and
  budgets,women confined in clerical duties and
  subordinate tasks

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• FEMALE WORK IN THE INFORMAL SECTOR
• Informal sector represents 17 of GDP
• Limited presence of women inthis sector23.2 of
  non-agricultural female employment compared to
  41.1 for men
• Precariousness of working conditions(lack of
  access to public utilities), especially in
  manufacturing where presence of female
  entrepreneurs is important
• Exercise of income activities corresponds to
  survival strategies and struggle against poverty.

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• 2. Women and unpaid work
• The higher rate activity of women in rural
  areas(39.3 compared to 28.4 at national level)
  is due partly to the tight articulation between
  purely economic activities and dometic unpaid
  work
• According to the budget-time method, lack of
  social infrastructures increases care economy
  burden for women ( meal preparation, washing,
  cleaning, shopping, water and wood procurment in
  remote areas) and reduces time available to
  economic activities

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• Furthermore,women have to reconcile economic
  participation with domestic and care duties

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• 3.FEMALE ENTREPRISES IN MOROCCO, a recent
  phenomenon
• Proportion of women employers remains very low(
  0.6) // ( 2.7 for men)
• Profile-type of women entrepreneur (high level of
  education, provious professional experience,
  having shares in companies they run, married and
  having dependent children)

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• General profile of female companies
  (concentrated in services tertiary sector, small
  size, created recently, focused on local and
  national markets)
• Obstacles to overcomeadministrative procedures
  and red tape, access to financing, lack of
  qualified human resources)

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• Wage discrimination average wages of men are
  35.8 higher than that of women
• The female disadvantage (under payment due to the
  fact that employee is a women) constitues
  principal factor to explain this difference

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• 4. Some recommendations
• Political commitment towards gender equality
  through a comprehensive and concerted national
  strategy based on gender mainstreamingespecially
  national employment policy, macroeconomic
  priorities,
• Capacity building of civil society organisations
  in order to focus more their activities on
  economic and social rights of women,

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• Priority to be given to vocational training
• A better implementation of lhe ILO pilot program
  o, decent working conditions