The feminist commitment of Moroccan women's non-governmental organisations' is subsumed by the partisan ideology of the left which is not explicitly gender discriminating. The feminist and democratic discourses of the left have much in common since they both have strategies for resistance to dominant socio-economic and political hierarchies. These organisations' leaders political allegiance to the different political parties of the left are due to the origins of active members as militants in these parties. The monopoly of the political left over Moroccan feminist non-governmental organisations indicates the absence of an autonomous feminist ideology, which makes the actions of these organisations subservient to different political affiliations.
The objectives of this paper are: first, the exploration of these feminist non-governmental organisations' different experiences of resistance to an institutionalised patriarchal order; Second, the discussion of the factors that hinder these feminists' independence and networking action; Third and finally, the investigation of the different instances that illustrate a potentially conceptual and politically active Moroccan feminist movement. The development of a feminist political action based on a theoretical local groundwork can determine women's standpoint of statements such as democracy and human rights as well as lay the round for the development of an independent feminist organisational movement.
Last modified: 7 May 2001