The Islamic saying “a people who entrust their affairs to a woman will never succeed” has resurfaced in Morocco since King Mohammed VI named Fatima Zahra El Mansouri as the country’s first female prime minister.
Mustafa Ramid, a former justice minister in an Islamist-led government, cited the saying earlier this month, in a lengthy Facebook post questioning whether a woman should hold the country’s highest political office.
He argued that Morocco, a Muslim majority country, had found a balance between equality and the responsibilities of state leadership, as the highest office – that of the king – continued to be reserved for men.
Morocco operates as a constitutional monarchy. Yet executive power remains in the hands of the 63-year-old monarch.
El Mansouri’s Authenticity and Modernity Party (Pam) won the most seats in September’s parliamentary election and has since announced a coalition with three other parties. Together, they hold 207 of the 395 seats in parliament.
El Mansouri’s royal appointment was historic but it exposed persistent reservations about women in positions of power.
The day after her appointment, local broadcaster Chouf TV took to the streets to ask Moroccan men “what they thought” of a woman heading the government.
Several men, mostly middle-aged or older, hesitated before answering. Some said they accepted the decision because it was the king’s choice.
One grey-haired man, who did not give his name or age, said: “It feels strange to have a woman as head of government. I’m not sure if it sits well with me.”
Criticism of the monarchy carries legal risks in Morocco. The penal code criminalises certain forms of offence or insult against the king, the royal family and the monarchy.
Online, the appointment became fodder for political satire.
A video showing two women pulling each other’s hair was widely shared, with captions suggesting that this is what parliamentary disagreements between El Mansouri and her colleagues might look like.
However many younger Moroccans, especially women, welcomed her appointment.
While attitudes are changing in Morocco, conservative, religious views still hold great weight.
Some of the country’s most contentious debates over gender equality centre on family law, including inheritance, marriage and divorce.
Under existing inheritance rules, a daughter typically receives half the share of a son in comparable circumstances.
The Higher Council of Ulemas, the country’s body of religious scholars, has resisted calls for equal inheritance, citing Islamic jurisprudence.
It has also rejected proposals to abolish taasib, a rule that can require female orphans without brothers to share their inheritance with male relatives, including distant ones.
In a 2022 report, Morocco’s National Human Rights Council said unequal inheritance rules contributed to poverty among women.
Polygamy is also legal under certain conditions. Proposed changes to the family code have included allowing women to stipulate in their marriage contracts that their husbands cannot take another wife.
But exceptions remain, including provisions relating to a first wife’s infertility or illness, which women’s rights groups have criticised on grounds of privacy and medical confidentiality.
These issues are at the heart of proposals to reform the Moudawana, Morocco’s family code, which governs marriage, divorce and child custody.
A package of changes was announced in 2024, but the reforms have yet to become law.–BBC
