Publication Date
Spring 2025
Abstract
This study explores how young Moroccan women experience, interpret, and reshape spatial environments in contemporary Morocco, focusing on the capital of Rabat. Using a qualitative methodology that includes semi-structured interviews, anonymous surveys, participant observation, and photographic field notes, I examine how public and private spaces reflect and reinforce gendered expectations. Findings reveal that while women have increased visibility and public life, their presence is often conditional, structured by norms. Findings reveal that while women have increased visibility in public areas, their presence is often conditional, structured by norms that dictate how they should move, communicate, and appear. Across spaces like cafés, universities, streets, and homes, participants described navigating a shifting set of social expectations that simultaneously celebrate female independence and demand modesty and obedience. Despite these constraints, women employed subtle surveys of resistance and negotiation, claiming space through presence, companionship, and redefinition of womanhood. This study emphasizes the importance of contextual agency and shows how gender roles in Morocco are constantly renegotiated through everyday spatial practices.
Disciplines
Arts and Humanities | Social and Behavioral Sciences
Recommended Citation
Sanchez, Jazmine Iriqui, "Spatial Narratives: Women’s Roles, Agency, and the Evolving Concept of Womanhood in Contemporary Morocco" (2025). Morocco: Human Rights, Social Justice, and Cultural Transformation. 5.
https://digitalcollections.sit.edu/mor2/5