Education:

Employment:

• Through the National Program to Promote Human Rights Culture in Schools, the government has particularly focused in supporting women’s education. In 1999, the government also established the National Charter of Education and Training, which mandates that men, women, and children should be given equal educational and training services. However, this charter is not strictly enforced. No government action is taken against parents who do not send their daughters to school and women still tend to be less educated than men. While literacy rates for women were at 40% in 2006, men’s literacy rates reached nearly 66% that same year. Primary school enrollment is 89% for boys, and 83% for girls, showing great progress in closing gender gaps. Women’s education opportunities are particularly scarce among the rural communities, in which nearly 8 out of 10 women are illiterate. However, according to the World Bank, economic status is as much of a determinant as gender in regards to who will receive an education. Yet clear gender disparities within disciplines are easily seen at the university level, where women made up only 30% of students studying the basic sciences, 20% of those studying engineering, and 37% of those studying medicine from 1995-1996.



• Women comprised 27% of the Moroccan workforce in 2006. Many women work in the agriculture and service sectors, though a significant portion work in professional jobs. One-third of doctors and one-quarter of university professors in Morocco are women.