Blog 3: Sexual Orientation or Gender Roles

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 Blog 3: Gender Roles and Economic Opportunity in Morocco

    An identity that I don’t relate to and that stood out to me during our trips in Morocco relates to gender roles, particularly women's participation in the workforce. Gender roles are the expectations societies place on men and women that can influence education, employment, and leadership opportunities. According to UN Women, increasing women's participation in the economy is an important factor in promoting economic growth and community development (UN Women, 2024).

    One issue associated with gender roles in Morocco is that women participate in the workforce at lower rates than men despite an increase in education access. While Morocco has made progress in expanding opportunities for women, traditional expectations can still affect career opportunities and leadership representation (UN Women, 2024), as well as insufficient childcare help.

    During our visits to farms, cooperatives, and businesses, I noticed that women played important roles in many operations. Whether working in production, agriculture, or community development initiatives, women were actively contributing to the success of their organizations. This stood out to me because it challenged some of the assumptions I had before arriving in Morocco.

    Personally, this experience reminded me how easy it is to form opinions about another culture without firsthand knowledge. Before the trip, I expected to see women playing a much more limited role in the economy. Instead, I observed women making meaningful contributions in a variety of workplaces and communities. Because of this, I can now recognize the progress that Morocco has made in regards to female participation, along with acknowledging how much work can be done to improve women’s rights in the workforce.

    Overall, this experience helped me understand that gender roles are constantly evolving and can look different depending on each culture, even when they share a language or religion. Morocco showed me that progress toward greater opportunities for women can occur while traditional values remain an important part of society. Seeing these dynamics firsthand gave me a better understanding of gender roles and economic development in Morocco.

References

UN Women. (2024). Women's economic empowerment. https://www.unwomen.org/en/what-we-do/economic-empowerme

Millennium Challenge Corporation. (2023, March 16). Empowering youth and women in Morocco is key to development. https://www.mcc.gov/news-and-events/feature/feature-morocco-employability-and-land-compact-closeout/

Comments

  1. Noah JohnsonJuly 24, 2026 at 10:01 AM

    I agree that being in Morocco gave us a better understanding of gender roles than we could have gained only from reading about them. I was also surprised by how active women were in the cooperatives, farms, and businesses we visited because it challenged some of the assumptions I had before the trip. Your point about childcare is important because employment opportunities do not help as much if women are still expected to handle most responsibilities at home. I learned that the OECD recommends expanding childcare support, increasing women’s access to financial services, reducing workplace discrimination, and addressing gender stereotypes to improve women’s participation in Morocco’s formal workforce (OECD, 2024). This made me wonder whether women working in cooperatives experience greater independence or whether they often have to balance paid work with the same household expectations they had before.

    Reference: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. (2024). OECD economic surveys: Morocco 2024. https://doi.org/10.1787/80777ea7-en

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