Thematic Working Group on Equality and Parity Launches Study on the History, the Record, and Prospects of Women Participation in the Parliament

The Thematic Working Group on Equality and Parity organized a seminar to launch a study on "Women Parliamentarians: History, Record, and Prospects" on Thursday, April 8, 2021. The seminar, chaired by the Group Chairperson Fatima Zahra Nazih, was organized in cooperation with Association Sim-Sim for Citizen Participation and attended by civil society actors and academics.

In her opening statement, the Group Chairperson stressed the timeliness and importance of this topic relative to women parliamentarians. In this respect, the seminar focused on evaluating the feminine parliamentary experience and women's participation in the political life since 1993, when the first two women accessed the legislative institution through direct elections before the adoption of the quota system in the Kingdom in 2002, namely Ms. Badiaa Skalli and Ms. Latifa Benani Smires.

The Chairperson affirmed that this distinguished experience has broken the bonds of the masculine culture entrenched in our society that favors men in accession of responsibility positions. This experience has opened a public and societal debate on women's representation in the Parliament, especially after the 1993 experience has proven women's capability and their outstanding discipline within the legislative institution and merit for representing the nation. Ms. Nazih affirmed that the continuation of women's representation in the following legislatures was just as glowing and reflected women's ability to serve, represent, and defend the national causes through the available constitutional mechanisms like legislation, control, parliamentary diplomacy, and evaluation of public policies. She also noted that the figures that were presented during the seminar prove the success of this experience.

Ms. Nazih analyzed the history of this process and its record and presented several issues related to political maturity and its relation to the democratic transition, which is mainly based on broadening women's participation in managing public affairs or representing citizens. It is also linked to the level of interaction of the components of the Parliament with the remarkable presence of women by letting them access positions of responsibility within the institution, as provided in the Rules of Procedure of the House, and focusing on the conviction that the current representation of women at the legislative level does not match the deserved representation that should aim to establish parity and empower women politically.

Ms. Nazih concluded her statement by noting that these questions are a bridge towards reaching conclusions that will enable objective advocacy within all political organs to increase women's representation in the upcoming elections and allowing them in local constituencies to achieve further women empowerment.

Ms. Halima El Joundy, the Head of the Association Sim-Sim for Citizen Participation, noted that the participation of women in the political and parliamentary life is worth studying and analyzing from an academic perspective, considering the constitutional, historical, political, and social context that marked it. Ms. El Joundy highlighted that this study is part of the interests of the Association, which aims to ease the access of citizens to information and impact their political conscience to launch a deep debate on empowering women politically.

Mr. Benyounes Marzouki, a researcher and common law professor at the Faculty of Law in Oujda, and the supervisor of the study mentioned numerous aspects of the study, mainly those related to challenges, such as the target groups, the availability of documents and reports, and the absence of documentation. This pushed the primary methodological efforts to focus on collecting and scrutinizing the largest number of data and figures in a subjective organized method, especially those related to oral questions. The efforts then moved to carrying out analytical work to clarify the data's signification and put it in its adequate context. Mr. Marzouki noted that the choice of the axes of the study was based on the documented data for academic precision, mainly in the aspects of oral and written questions, parliamentary bills, and parliamentary diplomacy. He also pointed out the inclusion of recommendations, elaborated through identifying and tracking the challenges of accessing legislative responsibilities, which constitute the ground for advocating the cause in the coming legislatures.

For her part, Ms. Fatima Zahra Hairat, a common law professor at the Faculty of Law in Tetouan, noted that the study's main goal is to identify mechanisms to support and consolidate the position of women in representative functions. She highlighted the imperative of broadening the academic document to include other mechanisms and procedures and to adopt a comparative approach with fellow Arab and international experiences to understand the challenges that hinder the performance by women parliamentarians of their functions further.

During the open debate, the academics, representatives of civil society, and the women representatives presented several remarks on the study's content and called broadening its perspective by including more information and other aspects that relate to parliamentary life.