Gender studies and equality on university agenda

The Moroccan government is encouraging university lecturers to promote gender studies, with the introduction of courses and policies aimed at encouraging the promotion, equality and independence of women.

The call was made in Rabat at a conference of academics and equality specialists, on the theme “Gender Studies in Maghreb Universities: Issues of law, knowledge and social responsibility”, reported Libération of Casablanca.

Lamia Radi, director of cultural cooperation and action at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, said Morocco had introduced gender studies in universities, reflecting its commitment to the promotion, equality and independence of women.

The courses had led to the development of tools and indicators to assess the impacts of policies to improve the situation of women in the country.

Radi was speaking in the inaugural session of the conference, which was organised by her ministry in partnership with UNESCO and the Francophone University Association as part of the Fête de la Francophonie, reported Libération.

Morocco had introduced a series of reforms aimed at freeing women from all forms of injustice, notably in the 2011 Constitution, which promoted progress towards equality and parity between men and women in all domains, she said.

The UNESCO representative, Phinitin Chanthalangsy, highlighted the special importance of strong, free, active and enlightened research into issues of social change, in this case the question of the approach to gender.

This would raise the social responsibility of universities in drawing attention to and enriching the field of intellectual and scientific production when it came to the approach to gender and the promotion of equality between men and women, reported Libération.

The conference noted that universities were well qualified through their research activities to analyse and solve problems of gender equality, and underlined their strategic role in establishing public policies on the subject, reported Libération.

* This article is drawn from local media. University World News cannot vouch for the accuracy of the original reports.