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Rabat – Marriage is proving to be a strong determinant of economic activity in Morocco, especially for women, who are eight times more likely to be Not in Education, Employment, or Training (NEET) once married.
According to a recent report from Morocco’s Higher Commission for Planning (HCP), the disparity in inactivity between married women and unmarried women is mainly due to prevailing social norms and gender roles.
A sweeping 94% of NEET women are housewives as of 2022, mainly due to their family responsibilities. A significant proportion of these inactive women – 60% – are located in rural areas.
In the HCP survey, the large majority of inactive NEET young women said they were not available for work. Nearly 75% of inactive young women cited childcare and household chores as the primary reasons why they dropped out of the labor market, in addition to opposition from their spouse or father.
As the HCP report puts it, “the disparity can be attributed to the family and domestic responsibilities assumed by married women, such as childcare and household chores, social roles that can exert a decisive influence on their educational and career choices, making them more likely to be NEET than unmarried women.”
The report’s comprehensive analysis reveals that the presence of at least one child under the age of 3 in the household increases a woman’s likelihood of being NEET by nearly 16% independent of other variables.
Even when disregarding their marital status, women have a higher exposure level to NEETness compared to their male counterparts. Indeed, the HCP data shows that 37% of young women aged 15 to 24 belong to the NEET category, compared to only 13% of young men.
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This grim reality is particularly dire in rural areas, where 51% of young women are NEET, against 28% in urban areas.
According to the report, geographical distribution also plays a factor in determining the inactivity rate among women. Women residing in the Oriental region are approximately 4 times more likely to be NEET than those living in the Tangier-Tetouan-Al Hoceima region.
These geographical disparities “can be explained by a range of socio-economic, demographic, educational, and environmental factors specific to each region, such as the level of economic development, access to education and childcare services, as well as employment opportunities,” the report concluded.
The trend defies economic development, as four of Morocco’s most economically developed provinces are home to the largest portion of NEET women.
The Casablanca-Settat, Rabat-Sale-Kenitra, Marrakech-Safi, and Fes-Meknes regions are home to nearly 58% of NEET, above the national 37% average. Casablanca-Settat alone accounts for a little over a third of the country’s annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
