Picture of Moroccan Female MP in Parliament: Who Is to Blame?

By Brahim Koulila

Morocco World News

Kenitra, Morocco, May 14, 2012

Parliamentarians are supposed to represent their peoples with regard to daily problems and national issues. Doubtless, they should not go to parliament to dose-off or have fun. As such, a parliamentarian is responsible for every single move –namely in democratic countries— he or she makes. However, they remain human beings who can make mistakes. People should not watch their representatives in the parliament and try to trap them, unless they do something wrong that could have a negative impact on their social, economic or political interests. Indeed, a parliamentarian, be it a woman or man, must respect the place where he or she discusses issues that concern a whole nation.

Normally, journalists are the ones who can serve as a channel between nations and representatives. They interview them, take pictures of them, report their announcements, among other functions. Still, sometimes, some journalists transgress their limits and report news that has no benefit to their nation. Instead of doing their work objectively, they become as a paparazzi looking for the tiniest details to turn into a controversy.

Recently, a photo of Mrs. Nabila Benomar, a Moroccan parliamentarian, sitting in the parliament wearing a miniskirt and her legs extended – barefooted– has been made too much ado about nothing. The photo was presumably taken during a break between two sessions in the parliament. As such, a very big question mark arises about this affair. Who was wrong, Mrs. Benomar or the journalist who took the picture?

According to her, she was relaxing during a break. She was neither asking a question nor listening to a comment or announcement by a minister when the picture was taken, which does not make of her posture a problem at all. A lot of parliamentarians worldwide would do the same thing: sometimes, out of fatigue or stress, we tend to take off our shoes to rest our feet, so to speak. Does this posture directly affect this woman’s political performance? Well, not necessarily at all. We listen with our ears, not our legs. On the other hand, I am quite sure that a lot of people would argue that a Muslim, Moroccan woman and parliamentarian should not enter the parliament wearing such a scanty skirt. Indeed, there is a little truth in this argument, but does this allow our journalists to become voyeurs?

The journalists who shot the picture behaved like a paparazzi. Normally, we expect only good, professional journalists to work inside the parliament, not amateurs or voyeurs. I wonder if the journalist or photographer had asked himself this question: “What will be the public benefit or learned from my ‘wonderful discovery’ (the thighs of Mrs. Benamar)?” I believe that he thought the way she was sitting reflected how Moroccan women work as politicians. Perhaps, for him, women go to the parliament just to kill time. In other words, his message was clear: this is how women represent us.

A lot of people have endorsed this view. The picture of Mrs. Nabila Benamar has given way to some misogynists to attack female parliamentarians. Apparently, some people had been waiting for this picture to confirm that women are far too weak and lazy to be good parliamentarians. Unfortunately, people thinking as such forgot that the picture had been taken at the expense of the reputation of the parliamentarian in question and that laziness is not limited only to women: if a politician is honest or good, this has nothing to do with his or her sex at all.

What are the boundaries that a journalist should not cross? It would be gullible believe that in Morocco most journalists know them. In a country where more than half of the journalists do not have a professional license and have never gone through professional training, boundaries with regard to transparency, freedom of speech, respect of others’ privacy and so forth will always remain ambiguous.

The affair of Mrs. Nabila Benomar seems to be a sort of philosophical question: is this woman guilty of wearing scanty clothes inside the parliament, knowing she is a Muslim woman who is suppose to represent millions of people? Did the journalist try to fish in murky water at the expense of the reputation of a woman politician who has the right to sit as she likes during a break? Indeed, everybody will look at it from his or her point of view, depending on many factors, such as political background and religious beliefs.

Koulila Brahim is a Moroccan teacher of English and essayist. He lives in Kénitra, Morocco. He obtained his M.A. (Studies in English language and culture) from Ibn Tofail University, Kénitra (Morocco) in 2010. He is interested in Morocco’s politics.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Morocco World News’ editorial policy.

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ld55

I was sure there must be an explanation for that photo which was published, and I appreciate it that you have written about it in English.

I would like to respond to one point in your article. While the picture was unflattering, I would hardly say the woman was wearing a miniskirt! The definition of a miniskirt is halfway up the thigh. Her skirt was knee-length.

I notice (as a foreign woman in Morocco many years) that women generally dress in one of two modes–traditional or modern. I would say that this woman dresses in a modern mode, and that her clothes were VERY CONSERVATIVE and APPROPRIATE for the modern mode. However, the BIG PROBLEM which women are facing today is that EVERYTHING IN THE STORES (in every country right now, due to the fashion industry) IS TOO SHORT for middle-aged women! This has been the case for several years, and I can see that her problem was that she wore a store-bought suit. This is why so many middle-aged American women have moved to wearing trouser-suits for work. But I think a trouser-suit would be less acceptable in Morocco than a skirted-suit. What she should do NEXT TIME is take a good suit to a tailor and have it copied in a good fabric, asking him to make the skirt to mid-calf length. (Ten years ago that length was still available in stores, but it hasn’t been available for at least 8 years now.)

Brahim, you probably have no idea how hard it is for middle-aged women (who want to appear modern and professional) to find appropriate clothes. Hopefully you will better understand her problem now (speaking as a middle-aged woman myself).
- Koulila Brahim
  
  You’re quite right! I wrote “mini-skirt” just to avoid going into details; also, I wanted to underscore what the journalist may have thought. For me, the problem wasn’t in the dress at all. Mrs. Benomar was sitting as any other person would do. This is the least margin of freedom a person should have. In my article, I tried to shed light on the mistake of the journalist as well. I still can’t understand why he shot the pictures. Was it a crime per se? Anyway, thank you for your comment and interest in my article. I hope we meet as soon as possible. Let’s keep in touch and trade information. Take care.