IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ocp/pbecon/pb_12-23.html

Gender inequality in the labor market: the case of Morocco

Author

Listed:
  • Otaviano Canuto
  • Hajar Kabbach

Abstract

Gender disparities in the labor market persist as a serious challenge, resulting in lower participation rates for women than men. This gender gap in labor force participation varies considerably across regions, with female participation rates consistently lagging men. After some progress during the last few decades, the multiple crises faced by the global economy in recent times – pandemic, the war in Ukraine, rising risks of climate change, and slowing growth after high inflation – have meant a setback to progress in reforms toward the empowerment of women in labor markets. We approach here how Morocco can strengthen productivity and economic growth by pursuing reforms to reduce gender inequality of opportunities.

Suggested Citation

  • Otaviano Canuto & Hajar Kabbach, 2023. "Gender inequality in the labor market: the case of Morocco," Policy briefs on Economic Trends and Policies 2309, Policy Center for the New South.
  • Handle: RePEc:ocp:pbecon:pb_12-23
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.policycenter.ma/sites/default/files/2023-03/PB_12-23_Canuto_Kabbach.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jonathan David Ostry & Jorge Alvarez & Raphael A Espinoza & Chris Papageorgiou, 2018. "Economic Gains From Gender Inclusion; New Mechanisms, New Evidence," IMF Staff Discussion Notes 18/06, International Monetary Fund.
    2. Francine D. Blau & Lawrence M. Kahn, 2017. "The Gender Wage Gap: Extent, Trends, and Explanations," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 55(3), pages 789-865, September.
    3. Lopez-Acevedo, Gladys & Devoto, Florencia & Morales, Matias & Roche Rodriguez, Jaime Alfonso, 2021. "Trends and Determinants of Female Labor Force Participation in Morocco: An Initial Exploratory Analysis," IZA Discussion Papers 14218, IZA Network @ LISER.
    4. Mr. Jonathan David Ostry & Mr. Jorge A Alvarez & Mr. Raphael A Espinoza & Mr. Chris Papageorgiou, 2018. "Economic Gains From Gender Inclusion: New Mechanisms, New Evidence," IMF Staff Discussion Notes 2018/006, International Monetary Fund.
    5. Pierre-Richard Agénor & Jan Mares & Piritta Sorsa, 2015. "Gender Equality and Economic Growth in India: A Quantitative Framework," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 1263, OECD Publishing.
    6. repec:wbk:wbpubs:4391 is not listed on IDEAS
    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. repec:ocp:rpaeco:pb_12-23 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. repec:ocp:ppaper:pb12-23 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Cristian Alonso & Mariya Brussevich & Ms. Era Dabla-Norris & Yuko Kinoshita & Ms. Kalpana Kochhar, 2019. "Reducing and Redistributing Unpaid Work: Stronger Policies to Support Gender Equality," IMF Working Papers 2019/225, International Monetary Fund.
    4. Sever, Can, 2025. "Legal gender equality as a catalyst for convergence," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 376-391.
    5. Lopez-Acevedo, Gladys & Robertson, Raymond & Tariq, Adeel, 2026. "Digital Technology, Gender, and Structural Transformation : Evidence from the Mashreq," Policy Research Working Paper Series 11332, The World Bank.
    6. Alnaa, Samuel Erasmus & Matey, Juabin, 2023. "Women's Access to Post-Secondary Education and Structural Inequalities," MPRA Paper 118327, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 15 Jul 2023.
    7. Simplice A. Asongu & Jean R. F. K. Bouanza & Armand F. Akpa, 2024. "Governance and Structural Transformation in Africa: Thresholds of Lifelong Gender Inclusive Education," Journal of Africa SEER Centre(ASC) 24/002, Africa SEER Centre(ASC).
    8. Asongu, Simplice A. & Bouanza, Jean R.F.K. & Agyemang-Mintah, Peter, 2024. "Globalization in lifelong gender inclusive education for structural transformation in Africa," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 48(4).
    9. Nikolova, Elena & Polansky, Jakub, 2022. "Children and Female Employment in Mongolia," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1015, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    10. Asongu, Simplice A. & Adegboye, Alex & Nnanna, Joseph, 2021. "Promoting female economic inclusion for tax performance in Sub-Saharan Africa," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 159-170.
    11. Elena Nikolova & Jakub Polansky, 2022. "Children and Female Employment in Mongolia," Discussion Papers 61, Central European Labour Studies Institute (CELSI).
    12. Rasmané Ouedraogo & Idrissa Ouedraogo, 2019. "Gender Equality and Electoral Violence in Africa: Unlocking the Peacemaking Potential of Women," IMF Working Papers 2019/174, International Monetary Fund.
    13. Kostov, Lyuboslav, 2020. "Inequalities and political populism: The case of Bulgaria," SEER Journal for Labour and Social Affairs in Eastern Europe, Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, vol. 23(2), pages 233-244.
    14. Goes, Carlos & Lopez-Acevedo, Gladys & Robertson, Raymond, 2023. "Gender-Segmented Labor Markets and Trade Shocks," Policy Research Working Paper Series 10518, The World Bank.
    15. Ata Can Bertay & Ljubica Dordevic & Can Sever, 2025. "Gender inequality and economic growth: evidence from industry-level data," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 68(5), pages 2291-2326, May.
    16. Iregui-Bohórquez, Ana María & Melo-Becerra, Ligia Alba & Ramírez-Giraldo, María Teresa & Tribín-Uribe, Ana María & Zárate-Solano, Héctor M., 2024. "Unraveling the factors behind women’s empowerment in the labor market in Colombia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 183(C).
    17. Nikolova, Elena & Polansky, Jakub, 2022. "Children and female employment in Mongolia," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 46(3).
    18. Karim Barkat & Mouyad Alsamara & Karim Mimouni & Zouhair Mrabet, 2026. "The effects of international remittances on gender inequality and the mediating role of female human development in developing countries," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 59(2), pages 1-33, April.
    19. Adnan M. S. Fakir & Tushar Bharati & Ashraf S. Khan, 2026. "The impact of media coverage of sexual violence on women’s work decisions in rural Bangladesh," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 39(2), pages 1-29, June.
    20. Casas Pablo & Christou Tryfonas & Garcia Rodriguez Abian & Lazarou Nicholas & Salotti Simone & Schoenwald Eva, 2025. "Increasing female labour supply: a RHOMOLO analysis," JRC Research Reports JRC142936, Joint Research Centre.
    21. Adem Yavuz Elveren & Hale Kirmizioglu, 2022. "Financial Development and Female Labor Income Share: Evidence from Global Data," World Journal of Applied Economics, WERI-World Economic Research Institute, vol. 8(1), pages 35-49, June.
    22. Luis Rene Cáceres, 2021. "Causes and Consequences of Idle Youth in Guatemala," International Journal of Economics and Finance, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 13(1), pages 1-61, January.

    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:ocp:pbecon:pb_12-23. 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: Policy Center for the New South's Customer service The email address of this maintainer does not seem to be valid anymore. Please ask Policy Center for the New South's Customer service to update the entry or send us the correct address (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ocppcma.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.