Morocco records one of the largest women graduation rates in the world in the field of engineering. According to a recent UNESCO study, women make up 42.2% of total engineering graduates in the country.
With engineering being one of the few disciplines that remain largely male-dominated, the rate of women graduates in Morocco is far higher than in some developed countries that boast about gender equality, such as Canada (19.7%), the US (20.4%), Germany (21.1%), the UK (23.5%), Norway (23.9%), and France (26.1%).
While student’s personal preferences can significantly impact the rates, they can still be very indicative of the gender-inclusiveness of engineering schools in each country.
The few countries with higher rates of women engineering graduates than Morocco include Uruguay (45.9%), Bangladesh (46.1%), Peru (47.5%), and Benin (54.6%). On the other hand, countries with the lowest rates include Saudi Arabia (2.7%), Niger (7.5%), and Burundi (8.0%).
Read also: Hajar Mousannif: Empowerment Through Curiosity, Resilience, Education
The encouraging rate of women engineering graduates in Morocco indicates that the country is on the right path to achieve gender equality in higher education and to break down the barriers that have long prevented women from penetrating male-dominated fields such as engineering.
Other fields with high female graduation rates in Morocco include health and welfare (72.3%), social sciences and journalism (55.8%), natural sciences (48.7%), business administration and law (48.7%), and arts and humanities (47.9%).
The scientific field with the least female graduates in Morocco is information and communication technologies, with women only representing 41.3% of total graduates.
Despite having relatively high graduation rates in Moroccan universities, women do not have a strong representation in the field of research.
According to the study, only 33.8% of researchers in Morocco are female. The rate of women researchers ranges from 26.7% in agricultural sciences to 40.4% in the field of health and welfare.
