Blog 3: Sexual Orientation or Gender Roles

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 Something I had not considered before coming here was the gender roles within the agricultural industries here in Morocco. Back during the Driscolls tour, we were told that it was primarily women doing a lot of the hard work directly with the fruit, and while this may have been jarring to a lot of us as Americans, it's just another social norm for them, although they may still face many of the hardships associated with the backbreaking labor involved. Some companies such as Driscolls may have worker protections and hold many female scientists and researchers in high positions, but that doesn't always mean that smaller farms or farming operations will maintain the same standards. 


Pictured above is a photo of some blueberries I took at the Driscolls farm we visited. 


Women are actually the backbone of agriculture here in Morocco. Roughly 20,000 women are employed by the strawberry sector in the north of Morocco alone (Oxford). As we learmed during the Driscolls tour, the roles they play within the agricultural sector are often through the idea that women have smaller hands than men and therefore are less likely to disturb or damage the fruit. They recieve many oppertunities as a result of being able to earn a wage, but many are ultimately still left impoverished (Tibbs, 2025). 


The underlying trouble of foreign companies such as Spanish conglomerates that provide less than stellar working conditions and meager wages for seasonal workers is also prevalent (Tibbs, 2025). Some may even face troubles joining unions. Conditions are especially worse for those workers who migrate to Spain during strawberry season in hopes of finding work. These Spanish businesses gain all the benefits of cheap and exploitive labor while Moroccan women rewarded with meager wages, laughable treatment, and harassment without access to proper protections and unions (Tibbs, 2025). 


The gender based issues faced by women in Morocco's agricultural sector is different than what we have going on in the US. Usually in the US, I feel like the general idea of agricultural work is seen as a masculine job, though the distribution between genders feels rather equal within my classes at the College of AG at UGA. I personally was surprised at the fact that women are expected to work in the floor while inspecting fruit, I don't think I would have considered the idea that women are seen as better at that sort of work without having been told about it directly. The exploitation of farm workers by Spanish conglomorates is also reminiscent to me of the migrant worker issues faced by the American west, especially historically in places like California. 


Sources Cited:

Oxfam Digital Repository. Home. (n.d.). https://oxfamilibrary.openrepository.com/

Tibbs, A. (2025, January 29). Women suffer in Morocco’s agriculture sector amid outsourcing. Maghrebi.org. https://maghrebi.org/2025/01/29/women-suffer-in-moroccos-agriculture-sector-amid-outsourcing/

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