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Contextualising street sexual harassment in Morocco: a discriminatory sociocultural representation of women

ABSTRACT This article aims to contextualise gender-based violence through the phenomenon of sexual harassment in public space in Morocco. This will be achieved by exploring the discriminatory social, cultural and political representation of Moroccan women, and discussing their status, image and treatment in a patriarchal social order. The study seeks to reveal the relationship between the stereotypical images of Moroccan girls and women and the violence that is likely committed against them. It suggests that women’s location in the power structures of the family, school, media and the law, as well as their access to the economic and political spheres, all contribute to the construction and negotiation of gender roles, relationships and inequalities, and consequently participate in fostering violent attitudes and practices against women in the public arena. The evolution of the status of women will be primarily guaranteed by changes in their freedom-of-movement, security and emancipation. However, regularising gender inequalities and naturalising women’s oppression remain obstacles that will encourage further harassment against women. Future research should address women’s discourse and experiences of street harassment as well as its social meaning, prevalence, severity and impact in order to better define the phenomenon and thus contribute to improving the image of women in the Moroccan context.