Green Jobs and Female Poverty in Agriculture
the Case of Female Farm Workers in Morocco
The Case of Female Agricultural Workers in Morocco
Kawtar Lebdaoui*
Kawtar.lebdaoui@usmba.ac.ma
Abstract :
For a greener economy, Morocco is involved in an ecological transition that promises a new dynamism in the labor market and displays a real challenge regarding the role of women within the paradigms of sustainable development and the greening of employment. However, the disparities between women and men in the agricultural sector call into question the paradigm of green jobs, which promises to improve traditional jobs and the emergence of new ones.
In fact, the dynamism of green jobs can be an opportunity for female agricultural workers, who are lacking access to decent working conditions and social protection, find themselves under the clutches of both the poor working conditions and the climate change. Threatened with being marginalized in the ecological transition, this group of women risks exacerbating gender inequalities and living on the fringes of sustainable development.
The aim of this research is to adopt a gendered approach to female agricultural employment in light of the green jobs paradigm. The rationale behind is to assess whether green jobs are dominated by men or they are opening a new horizon for the empowerment of women. It seeks really to analyze the real challenges facing a gender-sensitive greening of agriculture in Morocco.
Gender-sensitive green jobs display an opportunity to scrutinize gender relations, carry on the dynamism of women's empowerment, and pave the way toward reducing female poverty, which deeply affects female agricultural workers.
Key words: female agricultural workers- female poverty - gender - green jobs
* Associate Professor, Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah University, Fez, Morocco