The Catalan Parliament will meet with two Moroccan parliamentaries committed to human rights and political participation of women in their country.
A few weeks ago the Moroccan Parliament passed two laws that have been cataloged by a great part of the citizenship laws that violate the human rights of women: the Law Against Violence Against Women and the Law on Domestic Work.
Naima Ben Yahia and Fatima Gouiama, Moroccan feminists and committed to defending the rights of women in their local parliamentary, will be in Barcelona from May 30 to June 3 to present their point of view about it. It is the first time that two parliamentaries will visit Barcelona since these laws came into force.
During their stay, it’s scheduled a meeting with parliamentarians from the Equality Commission of the Parliament of Catalonia to assess the impact these laws are having on Moroccan society, exchange good practices on political participation of women, jointly assess equality policies of both countries and seek ways of cooperation between the two institutions.
Naima and Fatima also take advantage of their stay in Barcelona to develop an intense political agenda that includes meetings with the “Tinença de Drets Social” and the “Comission of inmigration, interculturality and Diversity of he City of Barcelona, the Catalan Agency for Development Cooperation, several municipalities of the province, social organizations and the media.
The approval of these two laws has been controversial. Social organisations in Morocco question their approach. According to its view, the law reduces violence at home but it’s not addressed as a public security problem or a defense of human rights. The second, Domestic Work regulation, a broad sector of Moroccan society has labeled it the “new slavery” because it allows 16 year olds girls to work in domestic service legally. In this sense, Naima Ben Yahia recently told the newspaper La Opinion, “the cause of women in Morocco is currently deadlocked due to lack of political will.”
According to the Gender Gap Index 2015, Morocco is ranked 139 of 145, figures that makes it one of the countries with more gender inequalities across the Maghreb. One of the great problems of Morocco is the unequal access to education and low political participation of women. Illiteracy is still alarming, with 38% of illiterate people over 15 years. This figure is even higher if we talk about rural women in the country. Moreover, the political participation of women is almost invisible: only 10% hold positions of responsibility
The visit is part of the actions foreseen by the project “VENUS – Strengthening the political participation of women in politics and education in Morocco,” which has the support of the Generalitat of Catalonia through the Catalan Cooperation Agency the development – ACCD- and managed jointly NOVACT and SUDS.
