Dawr al-munaẓẓamāt ġayr al-ḥukūmiyya al-maʿniyya bi-waḍʿ al-marʾa fī l-Maġrib wa-Tūnis (The role of NGOs Concerned with the Status of Women in Morocco and Tunisia)

Abstract

The international political order witnessed the emergence of non-state actors from the 1970’s which brought about an increased activity for women’s rights representatives and civil societies and led to the organization of women’s rights conferences. Among them, the Beijing Conference in 1995 is considered to be the most remarkable event in terms of women’s empowerment. Gender mainstreaming became a significant strategy for decision-makers and achieving gender equality is displayed as one of the main goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Besides the application of the feminist’s IR approach and the perspective of complex interdependence related to the presence of women’s rights NGOs the article also works with qualitative data collected from interviews that were conducted with the representatives of local Tunisian and Moroccan NGOs. On one hand, it cannot be neglected that international relations themselves are strongly gendered. On the other hand, taking into consideration the complex interdependence of the international political order and its effects on decision-makers and sub-state actors alike, the analysis states that despite the political, historical, economic, and cultural characteristics of Morocco and Tunisia crises (e.g. political) can serve as a catalyst for women’s rights organizations to act for the improvement of women’s conditions.