Hanan Hart
Morocco — Over recent months, several Moroccan villages have witnessed protests involving women and men alike, carrying demands that may appear simple on the surface but are profound in meaning: usable roads, access to drinking water, nearby health and education services, and basic infrastructure that guarantees a minimum standard of dignified living. The recurrence of these protests in multiple regions does not merely reflect temporary shortcomings; it raises deeper questions about the effectiveness of development policies and their ability to reduce territorial inequalities.

On November 13, residents of Douar Taabit in Khénifra Province, central Morocco, marched toward the provincial headquarters to demand the construction of a sewage network—a request that has remained unresolved for years. Protesters said their suffering is not limited to the absence of sewage infrastructure, but also includes deteriorating roads, the lack of public facilities, and weak water and lighting services, chanting slogans calling for a dignified life.

The following day, residents of the Agandara neighborhood in the city of Demnate (Azilal Province), central Morocco, protested repeated interruptions in the supply of drinking water, despite the neighborhood being connected to the network. They considered this violation of a basic right to deepen their sense of exclusion and confirm the absence of sustainable solutions.

Residents of Bouarous in Taounate Province, northern Morocco, organized a long protest march toward the city of Fez to denounce thirst and worsening living conditions. Although the march was halted, its impact remained strong, as residents’ demands were limited to securing water, improving road infrastructure, ensuring transportation, and access to education.

Residents of the village of Ait Azzouz, التابعة to the Aglamous municipality in Khénifra Province, also took part in a march toward the provincial headquarters, protesting the lack of roads and water, and raising slogans highlighting their suffering from marginalization and exclusion.

Ongoing Protests in Eastern Morocco

In the same context, the oasis of Figuig in eastern Morocco has continued to witness protests for more than two years against the privatization of water management, in one of the country’s longest peaceful protest movements. These protests are marked by a strong presence of women, who have not limited themselves to symbolic participation but have been at the forefront of marches, organizing sit-ins, and defending the right to water as a collective and vital right.

Human rights activist Thuraya Tennani, a member of the Association of Initiatives for the Protection of Women’s Rights in Khénifra Province, believes that women’s participation in these protests is not incidental, but rather the result of a long accumulation of marginalization and unspoken violence suffered by women in mountainous areas.

She said that women took to the streets “in defense of dignity” above all else, in the absence of basic infrastructure that burdens them daily—from fetching water to caring for the family and facing difficulties accessing education and health services.

She explained that women’s participation in protests in Khénifra Province is the result of a gradual awareness formed over years of daily suffering, as women bear the greatest burden in the absence of basic services. “What drives women to protest is not a fleeting moment of anger, but a deep sense of hogra (humiliation) and social injustice.”

She noted that many women and girls are forced to travel long distances to reach schools or health centers, often under harsh climatic conditions, exposing them to multiple risks, especially during periods of drought or childbirth. “The absence of these services sometimes leads to serious health complications that could have been avoided if decent and nearby health facilities were available.”

Women’s Awareness Is Taking Shape

Although these women do not possess, according to Thuraya Tennani, political or rights-based culture in the academic sense, they do have an awareness deeply rooted in daily experience—an awareness born of a sense of responsibility toward family and life, in a society that still places the burden of fetching water, caring for children, and confronting the harshness of rural living on women.

She argued that this invisible reality creates a distinct protest awareness among women and drives them to take to the streets in defense of their dignity, not in response to any political or organizational agenda. She emphasized that women’s protests are fundamentally a human act, reflecting a rejection of the silence imposed on them.

Thuraya Tennani concluded that women’s awareness today is taking shape—not as a theoretical or ideological consciousness, but as an awareness stemming from a sense of dignity and the desire to live humanely within their own country. She noted that women’s participation in protests is a legitimate expression of their right to a dignified life and their refusal to accept continued marginalization. “These women’s voices deserve to be heard, and their demands should be transformed into fair and equitable public policies.