Although Morocco has a reputation of being forward-looking, humane, and advanced in the rights of women, the countries lack of following through with their promises and legal alternatives, subverts their reputation. 

Furthermore, because of Morocco’s arguable implication of human / women’s rights, the nations ally, US, who offer support in business, asset, combat and diplomatic assistance find these misconducts to be an embarrassment.  

1.Tama, Mario. Women’s March . Washington D.C., 14 July 2017.

Highly broadcasted events of sexual harassment to women bring close investigation to Morocco as the government’s response to close protests and have small conversation on the female rights issues. To continue its reputation on being a progressive country, Morocco can not further create controversies to be a larger embarrassment to their allies (especially to the US).

And it’s not just about sexual assault, in 1995 the estimation of girls who were an applicable age for school were not enrolled for education. With that for secondary schools less than 2/5s of girls attend in rural parts of Morocco. Most parents keep their female children home to take care of their siblings, do house chores, or even get married. Some women in Morocco become wives at the young age of 12, in which their parents do not follow the legal age of 18 for marriage. In some areas of Morocco girls do not attend school because of their lack of fluency in Arabic which is the taught language. The language barrier between the student and teacher creates an hard environment for the child to learn.

In July of 2016 the U.S. government announced on donating over 100 million U.S. dollars to encourage the attendance of girls in Morocco schools.

Many hope that this money is not used to build school but rather teach the value of education to young girls. Journalist Juliet S. Sorenson, for Women’s Rights News writes, “Girls’ education is often regarded as useless or even harmful. Ideally, this U.S. investment will help local leaders see how girls’ education is not only fuel for economic growth, it is an essential human right.”

Soar , Project. “Girls from Morocco with Project Soar .” Instagram, ProjectSoarMorocco, 11 Oct. 2017, www.instagram.com/p/BaGtaasjn5Z/?taken-by=projectsoarmorocco.

I wanted to shed light on an organization Project Soar, which developed in 2013. Project Soar was started by Maryam Montague and Chris Redeck, they began holding several activities for young girls around Morocco to further their education. They not only offer tutoring and homework help, but they also allow children to experience arts, sports, languages, life skills and leadership, after school clubs, and even provides exam prep courses for students going into public high school. This required exam is critical to pass but in 2015 around 62 percent of children in Morocco failed (mostly being girls in rural/semi-rural areas). Because of this many girls drop out of high school and are forced to be a child bride. Project Soar will continue what they started in 2016 and offer 70 hour exam prep courses to girls in Morocco. Not only does Project Soar want to help girls be educated they also want them to acknowledge their value. Project Soar offers arts, athletics, leadership, tutoring / homework help, language classes, after school activities and health programs for over 400 girls. The organization has also began offering space to girls just to have a safe environment to study. This space also lets girls have access to books in both Arabic and English, Kindles and even iPads. Project Soar has 26 locations around Morocco and is hoping to expand with the help of the Peace Corps. According to Project Soar, “Project Soar doubled the number of sites in the fall of 2017. That means 280 more Moroccan girl beneficiaries, 1134 additional hours of empowerment and 740 hours of academic support.”

Monatague, Maryam. “Girls of Project Soar .” M.MONTAGUE, 1 Dec. 2016, www.mmontague.com/my-marrakesh/project-soar-1.

Overall Project Soar is a very progressive organization that I was very interested in. I was able to interview Fatima (an empowerment facilitator at Project Soar) on her views of female rights and Project Soar hoping that others will spark andinterest and begin to help as well.

How did you find out about Project Soar and what reasons made you join the team?

– I heard about Project Soar first from my sister who used to be a PS beneficiary. She was telling me the whole day about the activities she did, so I decided to jump in the next Sunday to see what it was. When I saw the girls strongly chanting the PS core beliefs for the first time, I already fell in love with them, and I knew that being there and helping them is what I needed to do.

As someone who is apart of the empowerment team what do you do within Project Soar?

-My Job is PS coordinator, and facilitator; I facilitate Project Soar in a box empowerment workshops.

As a millennial how do you think your thoughts on female rights differ from someone from an older generation?

-Feminism types are different and are developed with the changing of time, and I can tell that the women should be considered equally to men in everything, including making an international men’s day. What I believe in is we, men and women, should threat each other as human beings , we are born with the same rights and no one has to be superior. Filling the gap between men and women for me should be by educating both of them in the same way: I mean pink isn’t just for girls, and the same thing for blue, also boys has the right to cry and be sensitive just like girls.

What do you hope your work will do to help girls around Morocco and the world?

As a girl who was born in the same village they were born, who shares the circumstances of living, I hope that they see; they do not have to be rich or American to worth being valued and respected. That they can live as an American women does for example if they know their value and study. During our conversations, I always make sure to encourage them be confident and to believe in what we at Project Soar tell them they are able to do, because at a point they might feel that these foreigners volunteers and visitors are different than them and they can not be like them because they live in the developing countries.

How have you seen Project Soar develop and improve?

Project Soar is now improved because we did not only satisfied with empowering girls at one village, but we have been expanding all around Morocco to reach more girls, and we are still expanding thanks to Maryam who keeps telling us, we will never get satisfied and stay in one place, we should always go further in what we are doing.

There has been a lot of press on sexual assault and female rights, how has this made you feel as a female activist?

2. Eyler-Werve, Jonathan. Women’s March . Chicago, ILL, 21 Jan. 2017.

– When I first saw media all these #metoo, and how Hollywood stars are concerned as well in the social media, I felt frustrated. It makes makes me think of how it would be heaven if a girl gets out without feeling afraid of being harassed. I really hope this dream comes true soon when all women’s around the world are unified and seek equality.

What do you see in the future for Project Soar and female rights? 

-I see in the future for Project Soar and around the world empowering the girls to be feminist.

 

I hope that this will bring you a new perspective on female rights and the difference people are trying to make. Although you may be reading this in the US or another first world country, there is unequal treatment to women all around us. I purposefully wanted to focus on Project Soar and Morocco as it shows how we can make a massive difference if both female and male come together to support each other. Project Soar and other organizations are not going against men or hoping to be superior. In fact feminism is the complete opposite. According to Britannica, “Feminism, the belief in the social, economic, and political equality of the sexes” meaning feminist believe that women and men should have EQUAL rights and not to oppress men.


I hope this will enlighten you on the fact that women are coming together to support each other, rather than ripping one another apart (the ultimate sisterhood). Furthermore that it is more than okay for a man to be a feminist. I would really appreciate if you could spend even five minutes researching about gender equality. That can be on the news or even just sparking up a conversation. By doing this we are not only raising awareness but making an impact on how the society views women. If you would like to support female equality more reach out to organizations to find ways to help. That can be donating your time or goods for women all around us to feel supported. Project Soar is a great organization that will make this process extremely easy. You can donate with a click of a button on their website and if you are in the area you can even join the team just like Fatima. Your steps might seem small in the moment but in the bigger picture if we all make these small steps we can make a massive difference.

 

More On Project Soar and Fatima:
Website

Other Organizations That Support Female Rights:

UltraViolet: Find campaigns that you want to support and sign petitions etc. to make a difference!
Planned Parenthood : Health care is extremely important but also extremely expensive, help fund for underprivileged individuals! Planned Parenthood also does many actions that help mostly women but also men as well.
RAINN: Supports victims of  sexual assault and abuse by donating or working one on one with victims.
Malala Fund: Help fund education for girls in Middle Eastern countries.

 

Bibliography:

Burkett, Elinor, and Laura Brunell. “Feminism.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 28 Dec. 2017, www.britannica.com/topic/feminism.

Hites, Leila Hanafi and Danielle. “Women’s Rights in Morocco: Balancing Domestic and International Law.” Atlantic Council, www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/menasource/women-s-rights-in-morocco-balancing-domestic-and-international-law.

Mendelsohn, Hadley. “8 Women’s Rights Organizations Everyone Should Know About.”MyDomaine, MyDomaine, 22 Aug. 2017, www.mydomaine.com/womens-rights-organizations.

Soar, Project. “About.” Project Soar Morocco , www.projectsoarmorocco.org/about/.

Sorenson , Juliet S. “Why Girls’ Education in Morocco Needs More than Money.” We News, Women’s ENews , 12 July 2016, womensenews.org/2016/07/why-girls-education-in-morocco-needs-more-than-money/.

Wright, Oliver. “US.” The Independent, Independent Digital News and Media, 28 Oct. 2014, www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/uk-drops-out-of-gender-equality-top-20-after-women-s-wages-fall-9821990.htm.

 

 

Videos and Media:

“Emma Watson Gives Rousing Speech on Women’s Rights to the UN.” Performance by Emma Watson , Youtube , IBTimes UK, 23 Sept. 2014, www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DbxSGu-SDg.

Eyler-Werve, Jonathan. Women’s March . Chicago, ILL, 21 Jan. 2017.

“International Women’s Day 2018: The Time Is Now.” YouTube, UN Women, 8 Mar. 2018, www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXCnHvQzoOU.

Monatague, Maryam. “Girls of Project Soar .” M.MONTAGUE, 1 Dec. 2016, www.mmontague.com/my-marrakesh/project-soar-1.

“Oprah Winfrey’s Golden Globes Speech, Annotated.” Performance by Oprah Winfrey,YouTube, Washington Post , 7 Jan. 2018, www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKuKc7KTt9g.

Soar , Project. “Girls from Morocco with Project Soar .” Instagram, ProjectSoarMorocco, 11 Oct. 2017, www.instagram.com/p/BaGtaasjn5Z/?taken-by=projectsoarmorocco.

Tama, Mario. Women’s March . Washington D.C., 14 July 2017.