Marruecos contará por primera vez con siete mujeres ministras

The King of Morocco, Mohammed VI, has appointed seven new women ministers to form part of the new government headed by Aziz Ajanauch. In this way, the government has advanced from five to seven ministers, with the mayor of Marrakech, Fatima Zahra al-Mansouri, as minister in charge of tourism.

In addition, the doctor Nabila Mounib, who was appointed mayor of Casablanca in the last regional elections, has also joined the government as minister of health.

New to the new government will be Khadija Ezzoumi as Minister of the Ministry of Women, Family and Social Inclusion, Leila Benali as Minister of Energy Transition and Sustainable Development, Ghaith Mazor as Deputy Minister in charge of Digital Transformation and Administrative Reform, followed by Younis Al-Sakuri as Minister of Peoples and Economic Integration. 

The Alawi kingdom continues to make strides towards achieving gender equality. Although progress remains steady, measures are still slow in coming. Since 2002 Morocco has passed legislation to try to establish quotas in representative bodies. The number of women in the House of Representatives currently stands at 22.7 per cent and one third in both regional and local bodies.

Although Morocco remains at the forefront of Arab countries taking steps to include women in politics, it is still insufficient. In this regard, Moroccan women have continued to demand an increase in women's quotas, as the average quota for women in the country is around 19.9 per cent, while globally the percentage is around 25.6 per cent above the Moroccan House of Representatives. Nevertheless, with measures such as the gender quota, Morocco has ensured that elected institutions do not remain "male bodies".

With the adoption of these measures, Morocco has positioned itself as a country at the forefront of integrating women into the political mainstream. In addition to the new ministerial appointments, the results of the last elections showed an increase in the presence of women in politics. With the appointment of seven women ministers, Morocco is embarking on a historic new government that, while still far from ensuring equality, is working significantly to try to win women's rights.