IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/erg/wpaper/1102.html

Climate Change, Gender, Decision-Making Power, and Migration into the Saiss Region of Morocco

Author

Listed:
  • Dina Najjar

    (International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas)

  • Boubaker Dhehibi
  • Aden Aw-Hassan
  • Abderrahim Bentaibi

Abstract

Studies on migration in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region have so far focused on migration to urban areas (local cities and European countries). Little research has explored internal migration into rural areas. Yet in Morocco rural-rural migration is an important strategy for many who are escaping climate variability and unemployment in their hometowns to take advantage of labor opportunities in thriving agricultural enterprises. Gender remains largely missing from migration research in Morocco especially for migrant women. Gender differences are important to account for as men and women have diverse motives, strategies and experiences with migration, and thus require different interventions. In light of gender differences and climate-induced migration and investments in irrigation, this research follows up on the ground to understand the experiences of men and women laborer as the migration continues in three rural areas in the Saiss region (Morocco). These are chosen based on differences in socio-economic, gender norms, and biophysical dynamics to capture as diverse experiences as possible with labor work and migration as possible. These areas also represent both sending and receiving communities. Data was collected through a survey administered to 400 laborers (179 women and 221 men) employed in the intensified agricultural sector of Saiss in Morocco. Using gender analysis, logistic regression models framework and political ecology approach, our findings emphasize that men should be sensitized in their attainment of tertiary education on gender equality and the importance soliciting women’s participation in decision-making, particularly with regards to assets (house). For the economic advancement of women, there should be a sustained focus on their ownership and control over unalienable assets (such as housing). The same recommendation applies to the youth. Finally, we found that migrants were less likely to control houses that they owned probably due to a general lack of title deeds. We recommend formalizing their ownership of housing in the settlement areas.

Suggested Citation

  • Dina Najjar & Boubaker Dhehibi & Aden Aw-Hassan & Abderrahim Bentaibi, 2017. "Climate Change, Gender, Decision-Making Power, and Migration into the Saiss Region of Morocco," Working Papers 1102, Economic Research Forum, revised 06 Jan 2017.
    • Handle: RePEc:erg:wpaper:1102
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://erf.org.eg/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/1102.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: http://bit.ly/2rfqws7
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hein de Haas & Aleida van Rooij, 2010. "Migration as Emancipation? The Impact of Internal and International Migration on the Position of Women Left Behind in Rural Morocco," Oxford Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(1), pages 43-62.
    2. World Bank, 2011. "The Little Data Book on Gender 2011," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 4385, October.
    3. World Bank, 2011. "The Little Data Book 2011," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 4383, October.
    4. Jeannie Sowers & Avner Vengosh & Erika Weinthal, 2011. "Climate change, water resources, and the politics of adaptation in the Middle East and North Africa," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 104(3), pages 599-627, February.
    5. Alary, Véronique & Hassan, Ferial & Daoud, Ibrahim & Aboul Naga, Adel & Osman, Mona A. & Bastianelli, Denis & Lescoat, Philippe & Moselhy, Naeem & Tourrand, Jean-François, 2014. "Bedouin Adaptation to the Last 15-Years of Drought (1995–2010) in the North Coastal Zone of Egypt: Continuity or Rupture?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 125-137.
    6. Sarah Gammage & Naila Kabeer & Yana van der Meulen Rodgers, 2016. "Voice and Agency: Where Are We Now?," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(1), pages 1-29, January.
    7. Ana Iglesias & Luis Garrote & Francisco Flores & Marta Moneo, 2007. "Challenges to Manage the Risk of Water Scarcity and Climate Change in the Mediterranean," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 21(5), pages 775-788, May.
    8. Richard Black & Stephen R. G. Bennett & Sandy M. Thomas & John R. Beddington, 2011. "Migration as adaptation," Nature, Nature, vol. 478(7370), pages 447-449, October.
    9. World Bank, 2013. "The Little Data Book 2013," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 13205, October.
    10. World Bank, 2013. "The Little Data Book on Gender in Africa 2012/13," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 13196, October.
    11. World Bank, 2013. "The Little Data Book on Gender 2013," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 13206, October.
    12. Bina Agarwal, 1997. "''Bargaining'' and Gender Relations: Within and Beyond the Household," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 3(1), pages 1-51.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Huasheng Gao & Yaheng Lin & Yujing Ma, 2016. "Sex Discrimination and Female Top Managers: Evidence from China," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 138(4), pages 683-702, November.
    2. Neetu A. John & Kirsten Stoebenau & Samantha Ritter & Jeffrey Edmeades & Nikola Balvin & UNICEF Office of Research - Innocenti, 2017. "Gender Socialization during Adolescence in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: Conceptualization, influences and outcomes," Papers indipa885, Innocenti Discussion Papers.
    3. Aletheia Donald & Hillary C. Johnson & Aries A. Arugay & Aletheia KERYGMA B. Valenciano & Forest B. Jarvis, 2026. "When Does Decision-Making Reflect Agency? Evidence from the Rural Philippines," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 62(5), pages 758-778, May.
    4. Arnaldi, Simone & Quaglio, GianLuca & Ladikas, Miltos & O'Kane, Hannah & Karapiperis, Theodoros & Srinivas, Krishna Ravi & Zhao, Yandong, 2015. "Responsible governance in science and technology policy: Reflections from Europe, China and India," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 81-92.
    5. Samuel Adomako & Joseph Amankwah‐Amoah & Albert Danso & Renata Konadu & Samuel Owusu‐Agyei, 2019. "Environmental sustainability orientation and performance of family and nonfamily firms," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(6), pages 1250-1259, September.
    6. Chen, Yi-Wen & Chu, Li-Hong & Lin, Chu-Bin & Zhao, Ping-Yu, 2025. "CEO gender and M&As: New evidence from China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    7. Els Lecoutere & Lan Chu, 2024. "Supporting women's empowerment by changing intra‐household decision‐making: A mixed‐methods analysis of a field experiment in rural south‐west Tanzania," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 42(3), May.
    8. Hyland,Marie Caitriona & Islam,Asif Mohammed & Muzi,Silvia, 2020. "Firms' Discriminatory Behavior, and Women's Employment in the Democratic Republic of Congo," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9224, The World Bank.
    9. Nanda, Mamata & Ghosh, Souvik, 2025. "How does male out-migration impact the lives of left-behind women? Trade-off between feminization of agriculture and empowerment of farm women," Evaluation and Program Planning, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    10. Lecoutere, Els & Chu, Lan, 2021. "Changing intrahousehold decision making to empower women in their households: a mixed methods analysis of a field experiment in rural south-west Tanzania," IOB Discussion Papers 2021.06, Universiteit Antwerpen, Institute of Development Policy (IOB).
    11. Lauren Pandolfelli & Ruth Meinzen-Dick & Stephan Dohrn, 2008. "Gender and collective action: motivations, effectiveness and impact," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 20(1), pages 1-11.
    12. Astrid Sneyers & Anneleen Vandeplas, 2013. "Girl Power in Agricultural Production: How Much Does it Yield? A Case-Study on the Dairy Sector in India," LICOS Discussion Papers 34113, LICOS - Centre for Institutions and Economic Performance, KU Leuven.
    13. Leanne Roncolato & Alex Roomets, 2020. "Who will change the “baby?” Examining the power of gender in an experimental setting," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 18(3), pages 823-852, September.
    14. Giuseppe Rossi & Enrica Caporali & Luis Garrote, 2012. "Definition of Risk Indicators for Reservoirs Management Optimization," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 26(4), pages 981-996, March.
    15. Sarah Haider-Nash & David Durand-Delacre, 2026. "Climate change and migration on YouTube: diverse framings behind climate refugee clickbait," Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 13(1), pages 1-14, December.
    16. Nadjib Drouiche & Noreddine Ghaffour & Mohamed Naceur & Hacene Mahmoudi & Tarik Ouslimane, 2011. "Reasons for the Fast Growing Seawater Desalination Capacity in Algeria," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 25(11), pages 2743-2754, September.
    17. Joshua Sikhu Okonya & Netsayi Noris Mudege & Anne M. Rietveld & Anastase Nduwayezu & Déo Kantungeko & Bernadette Marie Hakizimana & John Njuki Nyaga & Guy Blomme & James Peter Legg & Jürgen Kroschel, 2019. "The Role of Women in Production and Management of RTB Crops in Rwanda and Burundi: Do Men Decide, and Women Work?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(16), pages 1-15, August.
    18. Catarina Esgalhado & Maria Helena Guimaraes, 2020. "Unveiling Contrasting Preferred Trajectories of Local Development in Southeast Portugal," Land, MDPI, vol. 9(3), pages 1-15, March.
    19. Tayyib Moussaoui & Abdessamed Derdour & Alia Hosni & Manuel Ballesta-de los Santos & Pilar Legua & Miguel Ángel Pardo-Picazo, 2023. "Assessing the Quality of Treated Wastewater for Irrigation: A Case Study of Ain Sefra Wastewater Treatment Plant," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(14), pages 1-20, July.
    20. Michel Beine & Ilan Noy & Christopher Parsons, 2021. "Climate change, migration and voice," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 167(1), pages 1-27, July.

    More about this item

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:erg:wpaper:1102. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Namees Nabeel (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/erfaceg.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.