Just over three months before Morocco’s legislative elections on September 23, the Association Tahadi pour l’égalité et la citoyenneté (ATEC) is challenging political parties to make gender equality a genuine campaign issue. Through two memorandums addressed to eleven political parties, the association aims to place parity, women’s rights, and the fight against violence, including online violence, at the heart of the electoral debate.
The slogan chosen for the initiative sets the tone: “You have my vote, but fulfilling these demands is your responsibility.” For ATEC, elections should no longer be limited to a competition between personalities or party machines. Instead, they should serve as an opportunity for concrete commitments on issues that directly affect half of Morocco’s population.
“Today, voters tend to vote more for individuals than for platforms. But for us, the real issue lies elsewhere: it’s a matter of determining to what extent the commitments outlined in political parties’ platforms will actually be implemented and translated into action in Parliament,” Bouchra Abdou, president of the association, told TelQuel.
Equality on paper, but what about in practice?
ATEC’s demands are rooted first and foremost in Morocco’s constitutional framework. Article 19 of the 2011 Constitution states that men and women enjoy equal rights and freedoms and provides for the creation of an Authority for Parity and the Fight Against All Forms of Discrimination.
Fifteen years later, however, the association believes that the work remains largely unfinished. “Since 2011, obstacles have persisted. No political party has enshrined gender parity in its internal bylaws, ” laments Bouchra Abdou. According to her, the inclusion of women on certain electoral lists is driven more by legal requirements than by genuine political will: “As elections approach, parties put women candidates on regional lists because the law requires them to do so, but at the municipal level, women remain largely absent.”
The gap is all the more striking given that women now account for 50.1% of Morocco’s population: nearly 18.3 million people, according to the High Commission for Planning (HCP). Yet their presence in decision-making bodies remains limited. Between 2015 and 2021, women’s representation in the House of Representatives increased only from 20.5% to 24.3%, while it has stagnated at around 11.7% in the House of Councillors.
The memorandum submitted by ATEC goes beyond the issue of representation. The association is calling on political parties to make equality a central political commitment, backed by measurable objectives.
One of its main priorities is women’s economic empowerment. HCP figures highlight the scale of the challenge. In the first quarter of 2026, women represented just 21% of the labor force. Their labor market participation rate stood at 17.5%, compared with 66.4% for men. The female employment rate reached only 14.7%, while unemployment affected 16.1% of women, compared with 9.4% of men.
“Women represent half of society, are among the most active voters, and yet remain the primary targets of policies that fail to fully include them”
For the association, these disparities require strong political responses: greater access to employment, support for women’s entrepreneurship, expanded childcare services, stronger social protection, and recognition of the care economy. Political parties are also encouraged to adopt a territorial approach that takes into account the realities of rural women, women with disabilities, and those working in the informal sector.
“Women represent half of society, are among the most active voters, and yet remain the primary targets of policies that fail to fully include them,” Bouchra Abdou stresses. “How can we explain that they continue to vote when their demands are still not genuinely taken into account?” she criticizes.
Online violence in the spotlight
The association’s second memorandum focuses on an issue that remains largely absent from political platforms: digital violence targeting women and girls. Faced with a growing number of cases involving online harassment, blackmail, identity theft, and the non-consensual sharing of images, ATEC is calling for these forms of abuse to be fully recognized as matters of human rights and public policy.
Among its key proposals are the adoption of a specific law addressing digital violence, the creation of a national reporting platform, rapid mechanisms for removing harmful content, and specialized units within law enforcement agencies. The association is also calling for amendments to Law 103-13 on combating violence against women to better address these emerging forms of abuse.
Beyond sector-specific demands, ATEC’s broader objective is to transform the way political parties approach women’s issues. The association wants electoral platforms to include quantified commitments, monitoring indicators, and evaluation mechanisms.
Its proposals include increasing the number of female candidates, improving women’s representation in party leadership structures, systematically integrating a gender perspective into public budgeting, and publishing annual reports assessing compliance with campaign commitments.
The association is also calling for the effective establishment of the Authority for Parity and the Fight Against All Forms of Discrimination, a body provided for in the Constitution but still absent from Morocco’s institutional landscape.
For Bouchra Abdou, the issue extends far beyond women’s rights alone. “According to the HCP, we are even witnessing a decline in women’s place within the national economy” she notes. “Their absence from political strategies reflects a disconnect on the part of political parties, which appear to treat these issues as secondary.”
With the elections only months away, ATEC now intends to bring the debate into the public sphere. After submitting its memorandums to the country’s main political parties between June 15 and 16, the association plans to launch a social media campaign and hold discussions with female political leaders. With a clear objective: ensuring that gender equality moves from the margins of political debate to the center of electoral choice.
Written in French by Ghita Ismaili, edited in English by Amina Kadiri
