RAJA KHAYRAT

Morocco- The “Political Representation of Women, Parity is Coming” project launched in January 2023 by the Tahadi Association for Equality and Citizenship (ATEC) will end in June. Bouchra Abdou, the president of the ATEC, told NuJINHA that the aim of the project is to empower women’s political participation in the Casablanca-Settat regions.

Stating that the association had previously submitted a memorandum on the eve of the legislative elections in 2021, Bouchra Abdou said, “The Tahadi Association for Equality and Citizenship submitted a project proposal to the Ministry of the Interior for the teams in the urban areas of the Anfa district of the Casablanca-Settat region. The teams carried out works in the rural areas of the Berrechid region, south of Casablanca, for six months. The project aims to organize training sessions for women in both urban and rural areas.”

Meetings with elected people

Pointing to the important roles of political actors and civil actors on mechanisms for parity between men and women, Bouchra Abdou said, “As part of the project, we had meetings with politicians and the elected women. Then, we wrote a detailed report. At the end of the project, the elected women will share their experiences with women. The association will hold training courses for the teams, who are currently working on public affairs.”

Speaking about the positive discrimination caused by the “quota” system, Bouchra Abdou said, “The project aims to support women so that they can benefit from the quota system and run for elections. Article 19 of the Moroccan Constitution says that men and women enjoy, in equality, the rights and freedoms of civil, political, economic, social, cultural and environmental character. Article 30 says that all the citizens enjoying their civil and political rights are electors and eligible.”