Rabéa Naciri (; born 10 February 1954 in
Casablanca
Casablanca (, ) is the largest city in Morocco and the country's economic and business centre. Located on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast of the Chaouia (Morocco), Chaouia plain in the central-western part of Morocco, the city has a populatio ...
,
Morocco
Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...
) is a Moroccan human rights
activist
Activism consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived common good. Forms of activism range from mandate build ...
and expert on
gender
Gender is the range of social, psychological, cultural, and behavioral aspects of being a man (or boy), woman (or girl), or third gender. Although gender often corresponds to sex, a transgender person may identify with a gender other tha ...
and
women's rights
Women's rights are the rights and Entitlement (fair division), entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st c ...
in Morocco. She is a founding member of the
Democratic Association of Moroccan Women
The Democratic Association of Moroccan Women (''Association Démocratique de Femmes de Maroc'', ADFM) is a Moroccan women's rights organization established in 1985. It aims to establish legislation based on equality between men and women, targeting ...
(ADFM), a
human rights
Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...
non-governmental
A non-governmental organization (NGO) is an independent, typically nonprofit organization that operates outside government control, though it may get a significant percentage of its funding from government or corporate sources. NGOs often focus ...
organization, that has been described as the "cornerstone of feminism in Morocco".
Biography
Education and professional career
After graduating from secondary school at the age of 17, she studied
pharmacy
Pharmacy is the science and practice of discovering, producing, preparing, dispensing, reviewing and monitoring medications, aiming to ensure the safe, effective, and affordable use of medication, medicines. It is a miscellaneous science as it ...
in
Montpellier
Montpellier (; ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of France, department of ...
,
France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
. Two years later, she returned to Morocco to study
geography
Geography (from Ancient Greek ; combining 'Earth' and 'write', literally 'Earth writing') is the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. Geography is an all-encompassing discipline that seeks an understanding o ...
at the
Mohamed V University in
Rabat
Rabat (, also , ; ) is the Capital (political), capital city of Morocco and the List of cities in Morocco, country's seventh-largest city with an urban population of approximately 580,000 (2014) and a metropolitan population of over 1.2 million. ...
. After graduation, she started a career as a university professor at the Faculty of Letters and Human Sciences, first in Casablanca, then in Rabat.
Political acitivism
During the two years she spent in Montpellier between 1972 and 1974 she started her experience of activism, both in terms of
labour unions
A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...
and of
political action
In sociology, social action, also known as Weberian social action, is an act which takes into account the actions and reactions of individuals (or ' agents'). According to Max Weber, "Action is 'social' insofar as its subjective meaning takes acco ...
. Upon her return to Morocco in 1974, she became an active member of the
Parti du progrès et du socialisme (PPS), but never had any responsibility within the party.
In 1985, upon the creation of the Democratic Association of Moroccan Women (ADFM), of which she was a founding member,
Naciri left the PPS. Instead, she worked for the Moroccan feminist movement and women's rights and
gender equality
Gender equality, also known as sexual equality, gender egalitarianism, or equality of the sexes, is the state of equal ease of access to resources and opportunities regardless of gender, including economic participation and decision-making, an ...
. In 1988, she was also one of the founders of the Moroccan Organization for Human Rights (OMDH) and later became a member of the Conseil national des Droits de l’Homme (
National Human Rights Council of Morocco).
One of Naciri's major fields of action has been the education for women and girls. Her concerns and research in this field led to her nomination as a member of the Moroccan Higher Education Council. Further, she is a founding member of the “Committee to Support the Schooling of Girls in Rural Areas” (CSSF), created in 1997.
In 2006 Naciri founded the Equality Without Reservation Coalition, a coalition of women’s human rights organizations based in the Middle East-North Africa (MENA) region. This coalition of 120 organizations from 17 Arab states started a campaign called ''Equality Without Reservation.'' They aim to end all reservations to the international
(CEDAW), to ratify the Convention’s Optional Protocol and to fully implement the Convention by MENA governments. Before this, Naciri served as Executive Director of the ''Collectif 95 Maghreb Egalité'', networking with women’s associations and women researchers from
Algeria
Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...
, Morocco, and
Tunisia
Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...
in order to end
violence against women
Violence against women (VAW), also known as gender-based violence (GBV) or sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), violent, violence primarily committed by Man, men or boys against woman, women or girls. Such violence is often considered hat ...
.
As a human and women's rights activist, Naciri has written about the women's movement in Morocco and the
Maghreb
The Maghreb (; ), also known as the Arab Maghreb () and Northwest Africa, is the western part of the Arab world. The region comprises western and central North Africa, including Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, and Tunisia. The Maghreb al ...
,
Arab women's working conditions and poverty,
women in Islam
The experiences of Muslim women ( ''Muslimāt'', singular مسلمة ''Muslimah'') vary widely between and within different societies due to culture and values that were often predating Islam's introduction to the respective regions of the w ...
, and strategic development for advancing women’s rights, among others.
Selected publications
The women's movement and political discourse in Morocco. Geneva: UN Research Institute for Social Development; United Nations Development Program, 1998* with Isis Nusair
''Integrating Women’s Rights in the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership''. Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network, 2003.* with Jamila Seftaoui, Malika Horchani and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (eds.
''Le Travail des Maghrébines: L'autre enjeu: Situation économique et sociale différenciée selon le genre au Maghreb''. Rabat, Marsam 2006 ISBN 9789954210406. (in French)
* with Amita Baviskar, Michael D. Layton, Ana Maria Sanchez Rodriguez, Claudio A. Fuentes, Beatriz Campillo Carrete, Jennifer C. Franco et al
''Citizen action and national policy reform: Making change happen''. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2010.* Friedman, Steven, Ireri Ablanedo Terrazas, Saturnino M. Borras, Pinar Ilkkaracan, Rabéa Naciri, Amita Baviskar, Michael D. Layton et al
''Citizen Action and National Policy Reform: making change happen''. Zed Books Ltd., 2013.
1
Further reading
* Mahnaz Afkhami
Interview with Rabéa Naciri.In:
Yakın Ertürk,
Ann Elizabeth Mayer (eds.) (2018) ''Feminist Advocacy, Family Law and Violence against Women.'' Routledge, ISBN 9780429438202.
See also
*
Human rights in Morocco
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Naciri, Rabéa
Living people
1954 births
Moroccan essayists
Moroccan feminists
People from Casablanca
Moroccan human rights activists
Moroccan women's rights activists