Feminist movements as agents of political change : An analysis of feminist social movements’ impact onlabour rights legislation in Morocco

Inspired by the contestatory debate over whether globalisation has brought more benefits or disadvantages, and feminist movements all over the world gaining more agency and leverage every day, this paper is an attempt to connect said components. Morocco is a case where both are highly present. Elements such as the country’s location with neighbouring countries on two continents, a history of a fight for independence, an economy that has undergone major reorganisation, and exceptional feminist movements, will prove paramount for the paper. The purpose is to study whether the feminist movements in Morocco have had a positive impact on the situation of female labourers, a group that has grown rapidly due to a combination of aforementioned elements. Theories of New Institutional Economics, the disproportionate effects of structural adjustment on women, and the importance of social movements to achieve change will be applied in an attempt to find connections. A frame analysis will be carried out and compared to legislative changes affecting female workers, to test whether these theories can be confirmed or dismissed. The results indicate that there is reason to believe that feminist movements have had an influence on labour rights legislation, and also that Morocco is more complex in this aspect than it might initially have seemed