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Rabat – Women’s rights activists and feminists continue to ask the Moroccan government to intensify its efforts to bolster gender equality, including by appointing women to positions of power and by promoting female visibility in the political and cultural spheres.
In the last few years, there has been a remarkable focus on boosting women’s presence in positions of leadership, especially as most senior representatives of Moroccan diplomacy.
Some of the faces are even at the forefront nowadays. They are resolutely defending Morocco’s most vital interests and making a compelling case for the country’s rise as a continental leader and an assertive voice on the world stage.
As part of their mission, these women often reiterate the country’s steadfast position regarding its priorities and strategic interests, including the defense of its territorial integrity.
The recent developments in Morocco’s relations with Spain and Germany are two illustrative examples of the extremely sensitive and demanding issues these female diplomats routinely deal with.
The list below shows the remarkable increase in the number of women in important positions as representatives of Morocco across the world:
Joumala Alaoui
In 2015, King Mohammed VI appointed Lalla Joumala Alaoui as Morocco’s ambassador to the US.
Joumala is the first woman to serve as Moroccan ambassador to the US.
Born in Rabat in 1962, Lalla Joumala, who is the cousin of King Mohammed VI, studied at Morocco’s Royal College.
She later studied at the University of London, where she obtained her Bachelor of Arts degree at the School of African and Oriental studies.
In 2003, Lalla Jouamala Alaoui created the Moroccan-Britain Society to boost cultural understanding between the UK and Morocco.
She also represented Morocco as an ambassador to the UK.
Karima Benyaich
Karima Benyaich was born in Tetouan, northern Morocco, in 1961.
The diplomat is Morocco’s envoy to Spain since 2018. She holds an Honorary Causa Doctorate from the University of Nova de Lisbonne and a Masters in Economics from the University of Montreal in Canada.
As a career diplomat, she held several positions at the Moroccan Ministry of Foreign Affairs before her deployment as an ambassador.
In 2008, King Mohammed VI appointed her as Morocco’s ambassador to Portugal.
Zouhour Alaoui
Zouhour Alaoui is among the 14 ambassadors that King Mohammed VI appointed in 2018 to represent Morocco in different countries.
The King appointed her to lead Morocco’s diplomatic mission in Berlin.
Prior to this, Alaoui had represented Morocco in different countries, including in Sweden from 2006 to 2011.
She also served as the non-resident ambassador to the Republic of Latvia.
The diplomat holds a Master of Arts in Liberal Studies from Georgetown University in Washington D.C. She also has a BA in Public Law from the Mohammed V University in Rabat.
Souriya Otmani
Born in October 1956, Souriya El Othmani is Morocco’s diplomatic representative in Canada.
King Mohammed VI appointed her as an ambassador to Canada in 2018.
The ambassador holds a BA in law and legal sciences from the Mohammed V University in Rabat. She also held positions both in Morocco’s Ministry of Education and Morocco’s Foreign Affairs Ministry.
She also served as the consul general of Morocco in Montreal, Canada, in 2004 and was Morocco’s ambassador to the Czech Republic in 2011.
Nezha El Alaoui El M’hamddi
Nezha Alaoui, the ambassador of Morocco in Ethiopia and Djibouti, was in 1967.She obtained a BA degree from the National School of Public Administration in 1988.
In 1989, the diplomat joined the Moroccan Foreign Ministry.
In her first diplomatic deployment abroad in 1993, she served as the economic advisor to Morocco’s ambassador in Rome.
She also served as an ambassador to Ghana in 2013.
Imane Ouaadil
King Mohammed VI appointed Imane Ouaadil in 2019 to lead Morocco’s mission in Ghana.
She joined Morocco’s Foreign Affairs Ministry in 2003, where she served in several positions, including as the Head of the Division of Privileges and Diplomatic Immunities between 2003 and 2005.
Between 2005 and 2007, Ouaadil also served as the advisor to the Directorate of Public Diplomacy and Relations with non-state actors.
Farida Loudaya
Morocco’s King appointed Farida Loudaya as an ambassador to both Colombia and Ecuador in 2016.
Loudaya holds a degree from the National School of Administration in Paris and a certificate of higher education in political science from the Mohammed V University’s department of Legal, Economic, and Social Sciences in Rabat.
She served as the counselor in charge of economic affairs at the Embassy of Morocco in the Netherlands between 2000 and 2002.
She also served as the head of the Southern-Eastern Europe Department at the Directorate of European Affairs at Morocco’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2008.
Karima Kabbaj
Kabbaj is Morocco’s ambassador to Hungary. King Mohammed VI appointed her in 2016.
A graduate of the National School of Administration and the College of European and International Studies in Grenoble in France, she joined Morocco’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2002.
Before her mission in Budapest, Kabbaj was in charge of monitoring trade relations with the EU and negotiating the Morocco-EU Association Agreement.
She was also a member of the team supervising the negotiation of the Morocco-US Free Trade Agreement.
Of course, this list is far from exhaustive. In fact, the list is constantly growing as many other Moroccan women have been appointed in recent years to be the new faces of Morocco across the world.
Many Moroccan women are advancing the country’s diplomacy in several countries. These include Saadia El Alaoui, Morocco’s Ambassador in Angola; Oumama Ouaad, Morocco’s ambassador to Panama, among others.
One take-away from this growing female visibility is the notion that, gradually, there is a tendency in Morocco to entrust women with prominent positions and value their contributions to the realization of the government’s “new Morocco” vision.
On March 8 of this year, Morocco’s Foreign Affairs Ministry celebrated International Womens’ Day by paying tribute to all Moroccan women, especially the female diplomats leading the way as Morocco’s diplomacy makes breakthroughs on various fronts.
“On the #JourneeDesFemmes [International Women Day] celebrated on March 8, 2021 under the theme: ‘Female leadership: For an egalitarian future in the world of COVID-19,’ @marocdiplomatie pays tribute to all Moroccan women and particularly to diplomats from between them,” the ministry said in its caption of a tweet featuring a photos of some of Morocco’s female diplomats.
Meanwhile, several Moroccan women ambassadors have expressed satisfaction with King Mohammed VI’s decision to put women empowerment among his top priorities.
Karima Benyaich, Morocco’s ambassador to Spain, has for instance spoken glowingly of Morocco’s recent political and social reforms on gender equality and female empowerment.
While Morocco is still far from reaching the level to which it aspires in terms of gender equality and women empowerment, Benyaich said during a conference on female leadership in 2020, the country has made notable strides under the leadership of King Mohammed VI.
“The increase in the number of women holding positions of responsibility in the Moroccan administration, and in particular in diplomacy, perfectly reflects the dynamics in which Morocco is engaged,” she said.
