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Rabat – Africa’s survey warehouser Afrobarometer has listed Moroccan females amongAfrican women who still “lag” behind men when it comes to financial decision making.
The survey, published on October 22, shows that women in Morocco have particularly “weak voices” in financial decision making.
There is a 38-point gap compared to men, Afrobarometer reported.
Burkina Faso and Sudan have close point gaps similar to Morocco. There is a 39 point gap in Burkina Faso and 35 points for Sudan.
Morocco, however, has a smaller gap in “average asset ownership” than other countries, such as Benin (27%), Mali (24%), and Burkina Faso (23 %).
There is an 11% gap in average asset ownership in Morocco, the survey said.
The survey takes into account 34 African countries, stating that African women “lag behind men in ownership of assets and are sustainably less to have decision making power over household resources.”
The survey is part of a Pan Africa Profile project that the website will release based on a “special gender equality survey module” which will be carried out in partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
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On average of the 34 surveyed African countries, women are “significantly less likely than men” to own assets such as “mobile phones (an 11-percentage-point gap compared to men), a radio (18 points), a television (7 points), a bank account (10 points), a car or motorcycle (16 points), and a computer (6 points).”
Meanwhile, more than half of male respondents say they are solely responsible for taking financial decisions, compared to 38% of women.
Although “40% of women and 38% of men say they decide jointly with their spouse or other family members,” the numbers of women taking charge of household finances remain low.
The Africa-wide survey showed wide disparities between decision-making rights in the home, with a large proportion of women across the 34 countries surveyed feeling out of control in terms of household spending.
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As many as “one in five women (22%) have no role in deciding how their money will be used.” This statistic represents more than twice the number of men (9%) who have no role at all in the allocation of their own, or household, funds.
Last year, the National Observatory for Human Development (ONDH) said that women headed 18 % of Moroccan households in 2017 compared to 15 % in 2017.
A higher percentage of households in urban areas are headed by Moroccan women than in rural areas, ONDH added.
The report indicated that Urban female-headed households rose from 19%in 2012 to 21% in 2017, compared to a rise to 11% from 10% in rural areas.
