I recommend you dream and to work hard so that your dreams come true.
Nothing is impossible, but the most important is that you do is what you love and you like most.Then you will success there is no doubt.
Please follow you dreams!

• H.E. Zakia El Midaoui, Ambassador of the Kingdom of Morocco to the R. of Bulgaria, and a Dean of the African, Arabic, and French speaking Ambassador.
  Her Excellency, who is an economist, has a Bachelor's degree in economics and accounting, a bachelor's degree in financial and commercial sciences and a speciality in marketing and distribution. She has been working in the diplomatic field since 1982.
  Before being posted as Ambassador in Bulgaria, she was Director of Multilateral Cooperation and International Economic Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccan living abroad (MFA), of the Kingdom of Morocco.
  Before, she worked as Head of the Economic and Commercial Organizations and Conferences Division at the Department of Multilateral Cooperation and International Economic Affairs at the MFA and also as Head of the Department of Bodies and Conferences related to multilateral trading and financial systems.
  She was also posted as “Chargée d'Affaires”. and Deputy Head of the Permanent Mission of Morocco in Geneva (Switzerland).

POWER OF WOMEN IN THE 21ST CENTURY

Introduction

Moroccan women: important statutory advances

The Royal vision never ceases to place the interests of Moroccan women at the forefront and reflects the firm choice of their empowerment at all levels. So, since the 1990s and early 2000s, the Kingdom of Morocco has made significant progress in promoting the status of women, both in terms of overhauling the national legal system to keep pace with international conventions, and in terms of strengthening the institutional framework and developing programs and policies related to gender equality, protection and promotion of their rights.

Women’s rights.

In Morocco, the recognition of women's political rights is recorded in all constitutions and its various amendments, including the Constitution of 2011 that prohibits all forms of discrimination; a provision that is repeated in several national law and legislation.

Since His accession to the Throne His Majesty King Mohammed VI has made the status of women His cause, because our Sovereign is convinced that the situation of women is an essential indicator of the change that has taken place and their political participation is a determining factor for the construction of a democratic society.

So in order to put an end to the discrimination against women, the Moroccan Parliament adopted in 2018 a law on violence against women, which is quite far-reaching, since it aims to provide better protection against all forms of violence against women (criminalizing physical violence, sexual harassment in the street and at work and prohibiting forced marriage and repudiation).

In addition, His Majesty King Mohammed VI has established, in 2019, the Special Commission on the New Development Model, which has developed a New Development Model with the aim of guiding Morocco towards a developmental strategy that emphasizes the importance of female empowerment and gender equality. In order to remedy the dissonances observed, this Commission stressed the need to enhance the value of women in Moroccan society by focusing on the economic and inclusion axis. One of the development indicators for 2035, is the activity rate of women which the Commission aims at 45% (against the current 22%), recommending also better social protection and  wage parity.

The Power of Women in Diplomacy

Morocco has adopted a set of laws and regulations that aim to establish equality and achieve parity between men and women in senior positions and positions of responsibility in public administration,

As far as the civil service is concerned, more particularly the diplomatic service, my field of expertise, the presence of women has increased significantly over the last few years. Women make up 43% of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; civil servants, while 41% of the staff of embassies and consulates are women. In 2022, 21% of ambassadors, consuls and «chargées d’affaires» are women, whose share did not exceed 13.5% in 2017. Besides, during the last three years, the rate of recruitment of women has reached 51.3%.

It should be noted  that Morocco is also at the head of Arab and Muslim countries in terms of the representation of women in diplomacy. Women are appointed as ambassadors in very important countries such as the USA, Germany and Spain. In addition, women's candidacies for positions in the United Nations (UN), as well as in other international organizations, are seriously encouraged and supported by the Moroccan government.Moroccan women, who are distinguished by their action and their status as members of UN human rights treaty bodies, reflect the active role they play in Moroccan society, thanks to the reforms undertaken in the Kingdom for the promotion of their rights.

In the context of gender-sensitive budgeting on the evaluation of public policies with regard to the principles of gender equality, which the Ministry carries out like the other ministerial departments of the Kingdom, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccans living abroad draws up an annual report to take stock of the impact of this budgetary policy on the situation and condition of women in foreign policy, the aim being to rectify the shooting where there is a deficit at the expense of women. This tool has contributed significantly to further enlightening the concerned authorities to take the appropriate measures in order to correct the flaws and eliminate the stereotypes that persist. During my mandate as Director of Multilateral Cooperation and International Economic Affairs at the aforementioned Ministry, I was responsible for drafting this report, based on relevant indicators, to highlight the progress made in this area and the way still to go. This report is presented each year as an annex to the finance law.

The Power of Women in Politics

A look at the available figures illustrates a state of affairs that reveals very promising emancipation prospects for Moroccan women. Thus when the Organic Law of the Parlement was revised in 2002, a quota was adopted after the introduction of the voting system by "regional lists" and "national list" reserving 30 seats for women, i.e. 10% of the seats, as part of the principle of positive discrimination. For example, the increase in the number of elected women after the legislative elections of 2002 and the municipal elections of 2009 is a concrete proof of the beginnings of minimization of political bodies and therefore the effective application of the principle of equality.

Moreover, after the legislative, municipal, and regional elections in September 2021, Morocco has taken a new qualitative leap in highlighting the role of women in political life. The number of women has gone from 81 (or 20.5%) in 2016, to 96 (or 24.3%) out of the 395 seats in the Parliament. Yesterday almost absent from any activity related to political life, today, Moroccan women are more present in this field. This process was further confirmed with the election of three women who became mayors of major Moroccan cities: Casablanca, Marrakesh and Rabat. Similarly in the current government, six women hold ministerial portfolios, compared with four in the previous government, noting that these ladies ministers have been assigned strategic sectors (Ministry of Economy and Finance, Tourism, Handicrafts, Housing and Family).

I believe also that the Medias play a vital role in shaping and promoting social and cultural norms, including the fight against gender stereotypes. Neutral images of women and men in the Medias are important to promote women's economic empowerment, eradicate gender discrimination and eliminate violence against women. The Moroccan Government is leading a project for the institutionalization of gender equality in the Medias. In addition, a Council on gender equality and the Medias was created within the press Union.

The Power of women in Business

In the economic field, it’s worth noting that the Magazine Forbes Middle East has unveiled its ranking for 2023 of the 100 most powerful businesswomen in MENA region, five Moroccan women are among them and two are in the Top 20.

Since women’s participation in the labor market remains low with an activity rate of 19.9% in 2020, and that the proportion of businesses run by women reached only 12.8% in 2019, to remedy this situation, the  government has launched economic development programs, of which 40% of the beneficiaries by 2026 will be women, with the aim to increase the female employment rate from 22% to 30%.The Government has thus adopted several laws and regulations to increase the number of women executives occupying positions of high responsibility.

Thanks to the personal commitment of our Sovereign, Morocco has launched several programs to improve the place of women on boards of directors, encourage female entrepreneurship and leadership, enable women to take advantage from benefits of digitization and to integrate women into Morocco's sustainable development initiatives.

On July 31, 2021 the Moroccan Parliament adopted a reform which constitutes a major turning point in favor of gender equality.The amendment to the law governing public limited companies promotes the principle of balanced representation in the governance bodies of businesses. It sets mandatory quotas to ensure gender diversity on the boards of these companies with a minimum target of 30% female representation by 2024, and 40% by 2027. Mandating the representation of women in the governance bodies of public companies is a bold step that only a few countries in the world have adopted. Morocco is the first country in the MENA region to take the leap.

The Power of Women in Science

I am convinced that scientific research is one of the most important vectors in the development process of the knowledge society and a driving force for development.

Regarding Morocco, in June 2018 UNESCO published a study in which we notice that Moroccan women are very present in medical sciences 40%, and 32% in natural sciences against 28% in human sciences. On average, Moroccan women obtain better school results than men. In 2021, 55% of high school graduates were women and the proportion of Moroccans aged 15 and over with higher education was much higher among women (26%) than among men (14%). In addition, 60% of graduates in management and 50% in science and technology are women.

Morocco has put in place a strategic vision for the period from 2015 to 2030 relating to the reform of education, which places particular emphasis on the generalization of the schooling of children, especially girls, knowing that the Moroccan budget allocated to education is the largest compared to that allocated to other sectors.

Moroccan women have also strongly invested in the cultural, educational and scientific fields. They are engineers, airplane pilots, architects, doctors, journalists, lawyers, judges, deans of universities, artists,... They also have successful national and international careers in the sciences, arts and culture (theater, cinema, television, visual arts, poetry, music, singing).We note that the number of women having obtained a doctorate is clearly increasing for all disciplines. Similarly, the number of permanent female teachers in university higher education has increased considerably.

The Power of Women in Sport

Women's participation in sport has a long history, marked by division and discrimination and illustrated also by the resounding successes of female athletes and by the considerable progress towards gender equality.

In Morocco the days when women did not participate in different sports competitions are over. The Moroccan women today surpass themselves. They know a regular progression and launch more often in disciplines previously reserved for men. Nowadays, they are present in all individual and team sports and excel in many sports disciplines. Among the Moroccan athletes with remarkable successes to their credit Nawal El Moutawakil who is the first Arab, African and Muslim woman to win an Olympic gold medal. Today, she is member of the International Olympic Committee. Thanks to her, a great door has opened for women and girls, and not only in Morocco, but in many Arab, African, and Muslim countries. From that moment, many Moroccan women were able to become world champions.

Recently, the performance of the women’s national soccer team at the last African Cup of Nations 2022, which placed second in this major African competition and qualified for the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 in Australia and New Zealand, is revealing in many ways. They set themselves up as Ambassadors of the emancipation of the Moroccan woman.

Samira Bennani is the first Moroccan and African racing champion to participate alongside men in the car championships on a closed speed circuit. Bouchra Baibanou, trained engineer and mountain enthusiast, is the first Moroccan mountaineer to reach the summit of Everest, has conquered Mount Kilimanjaro, Mount Blanc, Mount Elbrouz, Aconcagua, Mount Mckinley and Puncak Jaya. Even bodybuilding is no longer associated only with men, since many Moroccan women have seriously taken up the practice of this sport.

Despite social constraints and obsolete tenacious traditions, Moroccan women persist in following the path of their development and self-affirmation, while combining authenticity and progress, open-mindedness and tradition.