RGP Cycle Three Grantees and Projects
Mohamed Saadi: "Ninja Women": A Case Study of Women Farmers in Berkane
We are talking here about those veiled women who hide their facial features; these are the inhabitants of the city of Berkane in Morocco where women receive the nickname of "Ninja". The majority of them work in the agricultural farms abundantly prevailing in the region, and they have come from remote rural areas from the various regions of Morocco, fleeing extreme poverty, social vulnerability and difficult conditions caused by community and family pressure. They resort to the use of the veil, as ninja fighters, in order to hide their identity for fear of social stigma and disapproval, and to avoid exposure to sexual harassment by men.
From the early morning hours, the city wakes up to huge crowds of "ninja women", coming together in a public square, called “the parking”, and once a truck arrives, the workers-farmers scramble frantically in a race to win a working day. The process begins with the operators picking up workers, where only those having a strong physical structure are allowed to board the vehicles. That is why workers, including girls, elderly, and even pregnant women sometimes, try to appear in a good and strong body so as not to return from where they came. If the selection of working women farmers are often characterized by the fact of taking a look at the women’s body and shape, nevertheless, it encompasses sometimes excesses and practices that degrade the dignity and recall the time of slavery and market slave, whereas the worker’s shoulder and forearm are touched under the pretext of testing their ability to withstand the trouble and hardship of working in the fields.
The common denominator among these women in all regions of Morocco is that they are subject to exploitation, injustice and violation of their rights in different ways. The study aims at observing their situation, highlighting the problems they suffer from, and analyzing the social context and family conditions that have generated this fragile position, as well as the forms of resistance used by this oppressed social category to express its demands for dignity and equality.
This research aims at designing a preliminary picture of a quasi passed over phenomenon in Morocco, in order to establish a diagnosis concerning the deep significance of the vulnerability, oppression, and inequality under the yoke of which "ninja women" are bending, as well as the possible ways to enhance their capabilities and empower them so that they can decide their fate.
This social study is based on an empirical methodology that relies on field research to collect data, takes stock at the daily living of these women, and listens to their testimonials and suffering, in order to understand how the convergence and interaction of multiple social factors and paths lead to the feminization of poverty and social injustice.
Mohamed Saadi is a political science professor at Mohammed I University 'MFU' (Oujda, Morocco). He holds a PhD in public law, a postgraduate diploma in Law, and a Master's in European and International Human Rights Law. His academic interests include human rights issues as relating to social movement interactions. He has participated in several international conferences and has published many research studies and articles in the field of political and social sciences. His recent publications include “Introduction to political sciences: A study of the theory genetics” (2014), and “Human rights: Foundations, concepts, and institutions” (2012).
