March 8, 2011 -- For Moroccan women, the International Women's Day on Monday (March 8th) provided an opportunity to evaluate the status of their rights. Women still suffer from discrimination and have yet to achieve much-desired equality in the workplace, officials and experts say. According to the economy and finance ministry, the level of women's employment in the civil service is 36%. Women account for 14% of senior employees, constituting 10% of division heads and 16% of department heads. Women's involvement is particularly high in the education sector (92,893). About 19,000 females work as secretaries and 14,144 women are employed as nurses. Many of them experience discrimination when trying to achieve decision-making roles. Hakima had been working hard for years, in the hopes of taking over her manager's job. However, when her manager retired, the job was given to "a man who, in everyone's view, was not as good". "I was led to believe that men are better suited to positions of responsibility," she said. "My disappointment really affected me, and it's had a negative effect on my work."

In the private sector, women's participation has been improving, but still remains low due to economic, demographic and cultural factors, according to the labour ministry. There is "a significant discrepancy between the two sexes", linked to "the social and cultural environment, which restricts the opportunities available to women to get involved in work". Women's work outside home is seen as of "secondary importance, and only acceptable when it is necessary". According to the finance ministry, the employment rate among men is 68.6%, while it only stands at 23.3% for women. The inequality can be explained by a number of obstacles which stand in the way of the promotion and development of women in paid work. They are linked to the difficulties encountered by regulatory bodies in identifying where labour laws were broken to the detriment of women employees.

The main complaint from women working in the private sector has to do with the pay gap. According to the industry and trade ministry, their involvement is concentrated in the manufacturing sector, where they receive 7.6% less pay than men. Women often accept this situation, and "if they want to rise to positions of responsibility, they have to prove great excellence", sociologist Samira Kassimi said. Saloua Ktiri, a middle manager in a large company, told Magharebia that her predecessor received almost double her salary, even though the management complained about his performance. "For my part, I get nothing but encouragement for the effort I put in," she said. "But when it comes to pay, I feel disadvantaged, even though I've complained several times." Women are often more hard-working than their male colleagues and less demanding when it comes to salaries, company manager Hicham Mestafaoui said, but "this situation is gradually changing".