Viewpoint: Traveling in Morocco: Women Rarely Seen
April 2018
By David Grinsfelder
Special to the Palisades News
Morocco is not what I expected. When one thinks of Morocco, generally the first images
that come to mind are dusty expanses of land, dilapidated buildings, and more livestock
than people. Instead, when I visited I found a surprisingly green, modern, and energetic
country.
Our winding bus ride to the Atlantic coast provided beautiful views of gently undulating
hills, cloaked in a healthy layer of green with abundant patches of yellow honeysuckle
flowers.
Had we more time, I would have pulled our caravan over and set up a large picnic blanket
for a few hours to enjoy the sunshine and pleasant smells, reminiscent of a Sunday at Will
Rogers State Park.
The Moroccan economy, while not unstable, certainly does not have the security of a core
industry that developed economies enjoy.
Outside of the urban centers of Tangiers, Rapat, Fez and Marrakech, most Moroccans
survive on farming familial plots of land. Scarce houses dot the hillsides, usually inhabited
by an entire family, with grandparents, brothers and sisters, and grandchildren all living
under the same roof.
Tourism comprises Morocco’s leading source of foreign exchange. Our camel ride on the
beach was an inexpensive thrill for 100 Durham per person (that $1 equals roughly 10
Durham gave us significant purchasing power in the country), and the Hercules cave was a
damp, beautiful experience.
While the majority of Moroccans live rurally, the cities of Morocco are magnificent in
culture, cuisine, and architecture. Our walking tour through the Medina, the old district of
Tangiers, took us down narrow walkways sandwiched between “handshake” apartments
(dwellings so close together one could reach their hand out of one apartment and greet
their neighbors across the way).
Standard, beige walls sharply contrasted the vibrant shades we found later that trip in
Chefchouan, the “Blue Pearl” of Morocco, a quaint city built into a mountain that is famous
for its uniform blue architectural tint.
Urban Moroccan society is incredibly communal, and total strangers often address each
other as “Brother” and “Sister” due to the country’s predominantly Muslim population.
The culinary tradition of Morocco is hearty, healthy, and chock-full of natural spices. Our
three-course lunch at Restaurant Al Bachouz in Tetouan, which cost only $7, was a
vegetable medley served over steaming couscous, followed by Tagrine du pollo, a savory
saffron chicken accompanied by green beans and cooked carrots.
Traditional Moroccan food incorporates a grain with an abundance of fresh, locally grown
vegetables, a small portion of meat, and loaf after loaf of circular Harcha.
In the open-air bazaar, I found stall after stall of mysterious fruits, some that looked like
oranges but tasted like squash.
In the streets of Morocco’s larger cities, there was a stark disparity between the number of
men and women in public.
Everywhere we walked, we encountered men, some dressed in Adidas streetwear peddling
trinkets, some dressed in business clothing talking into flip phones, or some walking about
in Moroccan gelabas (robes).
Women were noticeably absent from the scene. The women we did see hurriedly ducked
in and out of small corner stores, dressed in burkas and usually walking in pairs. It seemed
that due to the country’s strong Islamic foundation, women do not have the same freedom
to walk about at leisure in public.
While many women from younger generations forego the burka, there seems to be an
expectation that a woman’s place is in the home, and that it is the men who should inhabit
the streets.
In Tangiers, many of the cafes were exclusively inhabited by men. I learned from our
guide, Younez, that while it is not forbidden for women to order at these locations, to sit
down would be accompanied by a barrage of advances and inquisitions. Women who sit
down at these all-male cafes are assumed to be looking for a husband, or for attention.