Majdouline El Amani and Khadouj Slassi were among the 120 women representing eight Moroccan political parties who came together from all corners of Morocco to share successful strategies for increasing the percentage of elected women in parliament and to discuss how women can advocate for greater leadership roles within their political parties.

The two Moroccan women come from different generations, regions, political parties and ideologies, yet their paths recently came together at the Elections 2016: Women @ the Forefront Conference organized by NDI, funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and supported by the Embassies of Spain and France.

Majdouline represents a new generation of Moroccan women who are getting involved in politics. This young political activist eyes light up when she talks about the two passions in her life -- cinematography and politics. Having studied in Berlin, she now teaches cinematography at the Isadac Institute in Sale and serves as director for regional and community festivals. However, her passion for politics and helping her community has also played a large part of her life, which was reflected with her recent election to her local government council. This is a young woman determined to make a difference.

If I could change one thing in my party, I would ask them to make young women a priority and to believe in them” -- Majdouline El Amani

Khadouj’s contribution to politics in Fes and her party are legendary. As a teacher, mother, community activist and former elected councillor she serves as a role model for many women political activists throughout Morocco. By sharing her experiences she exposes the realities for women candidates while also providing inspiration with her stories of perseverance. And her devotion to politics does not stop with her. Also attending the conference was her daughter who shares her mother’s same passion and commitment to politics.

There is a great awareness amongst women activists from all the political parties that we have to overcome our ideological differences and work towards a common strategy to increase women’s participation in political life.” --Khadouj Slassi

Participants mapped out their calls for action to their political parties leading up to the 2016 Moroccan elections and beyond.

In the opening session of the conference, U.S. Ambassador Dwight L. Bush Sr. set the tone for the conference by stating the 2011 constitutional amendments in Morocco “resulted in significant progress in the legal protection of women’s political rights.” Ambassador Bush Sr. went on to comment: “all that is needed now is the political will to enact these gender reforms.” The conference provided the participants with an opportunity for women to help build that political will within their parties and to affect real change for women in Moroccan politics.

Participants had access to various subject-matter experts from Spain, France, Mexico, Canada and Morocco to learn about regional and international experiences to increase the role of women in political parties and public life. The agenda included a briefing from the Association Democratique des femmes du Maroc (ADFM) on global quotas systems and offered workshops on social media, building campaign resources, and the role of women in party policy development plus message development and delivery. The conference also provided participants opportunities to meet within their caucuses to talk frankly about ideas and strategies to create more support for women candidates within their party leading up to the October 2016 elections.

Participants took full advantage of the opportunity to meet in their caucus groups. Recommendations for actions by their parties were debated and developed for presentation at the closing ceremony.

Some of the key recommendations made by the participants included:

•  increasing the number of women candidates on the national, regional and local lists;
• implementing clear, fair candidate recruitment and selection criteria;
• supplying dedicated funding to support women candidates;
• adopting of voluntary party quotas to increase opportunities for women at all levels of the internal party structures and committees; and
• establishing a nation committee of women, from all political parties, dedicated to gender parity pursuant to the constitution.

As the conference drew to a close, the women spontaneously broke out into song and dance to celebrate their shared experience and their proposed roadmap towards increasing the number of elected women in Morocco and increasing their opportunities within their political parties. Majdouline, Khadouj and all the women however fully understand that the hard work lies ahead. They must now engage their political party leadership and secure the necessary changes to take the next step towards political equality for women in Morocco. 

Published on May 6, 2016