A Home Truth on Gender and Subjugation

A Home Truth on Gender and Subjugation

Sophia Alami Gouraftei

In the name of a politicised interpretation of religion, the confinement of women in the home has been elevated to a sacred status. In Morocco women are often taught they have to be subjugated to their spouses, who themselves are expected to be subjugated to their political leaders.

In this context, an alternative path of emancipation that is neither transgressive to the traditions nor supporting a foreign myth of liberation is necessary.

Can we redesign the role of men so that a new place for women emerges?

A whole generation of Moroccans feels undesirable and dispossessed. A fatal drive to leave is inscribed in all of them.

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After the Schengen Convention in 1991, the Mediterranean Sea became a bridge between Africa and Europe.

Illegal immigrants use the Strait of Gibraltar as a gateway. They “h’reg” (burn) their papers, past and the law.

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Men who feel alienated from the future of the country are often seen “holding the wall” (“hitism”).

The abuse of power through a subjective reading of the law is leaning towards a more conservative consensus.

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Men are expected to abide by the “nafaqa� law and provide for their wife throughout their marriage.

Women hold the notion of honour and shame between their legs, a burden too heavy to be carried by half the population.

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The bride is expected to stay a virgin until her wedding day, on which she wears a fabric gifted to her by the groom’s family.

The house, like the woman, is venerated.

To enter it without permission is to violate its sanctity or “hurma”.

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“Hurma”, the sanctity of the house, is also a customary way of making respectful reference to a man’s wife.

Sexuality could be territorialised as the “hurma” was traditionally addressed behind a “hijab” (screen or curtain).

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Today’s crusade for the “hijab” (veil) attempts to control a sexuality that is no longer spatially contained.

A man who is incapable of providing for his “hurma” is a man whose sexuality can be questionned.

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The preconception that women have always been excluded from the political and public sphere is wrong.

In the house of Prophet Muhamed his wife Aisha’s room opened directly onto the mosque, a space open to all.

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Political, social and economic matters were, and still are, discussed in the mosque every Friday.

To eradicate women from the mosque means to eradicate women from the political sphere.

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Women are absent from most places of leisure (cafes, bars, arcades,...) where their presence is considered taboo.

An independent woman is a threat to the patriarchal power and therefore to political power.

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From the douar to the courtyard house the “‘hurma” was always interiorised.

Space and culture had evolved together.

The first historical rupture between space and culture is a colonial attempt to reform the structure of Moroccan society.

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Models of “adapted housing� were used as means of acculturation. Terraces replaced the traditional courtyard.

The resistance of Moroccan society to this hybrid architecture proves a resilience of culture.

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The second rupture between space and culture is an attempt from the state to offer alternatives to unruly “bidonvilles”.

The housing provided is based on a typical plan and a 1:1 building model, resulting in “bastard” architecture.

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The third historical rupture between space and culture is a political one that starts in 1960’s with the Years of Lead.

By 1989, philosophy was replaced by Islamic studies to inhibit critical thinking and dissident cogitation.

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Public spaces were gradually replaced by spaces of worship so social gatherings could easily be monitored.

Morocco’s largest mosque was built on the site of the old municipal pool. Today it is almost exclusively frequented by men.

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Emancipation can be achieved through strategies that appeal to the dominant power structure.

Easing the economic pressure on men will promote the creation of non gendered spaces of congregation.

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Can we redesign the role of men and the expectations of masculinity so that a new place for women emerges?

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1 Yto Barrada, Advertisement lightbox. Tangier, 2003.

The strait of Gibraltar is a place that exists in the mind of most Moroccans and represents the call of freedom and possibility.

2 Visiting rights became unilateral across the Strait. A part of all Moroccans is already on the other side, fed by television and Internet images. But that part is forbidden and creates a sense of division.

3 In the year 711 Berber commander Tariq Ibn Ziyad led his army towards Spain. Upon landing on the rock that still bears his name today (Gibraltar is Arabic means “Tariq’s rock”) he burned his ships.

4 “The crisis consists precisely in the fact that the old is dying and the new cannot be born: in this interrugnum a great variety of morbid symptoms appear” Antonio Grimsci

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In Morocco there is no Islamic moral authority, but the police acts like so. Often they are often not driven by morality, but are there to limply enforce a law, or rather take benefit from it.

Acquiring a dwelling place often coincides with the joining of a man and a woman in marriage.

Religious law makes marriage the chief context for legitimate sexual relations.

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“Nafaqa” is the Islamic legal term for the financial support a husband must provide for his wife during marriage and for a time after divorce. He has to pay for his wife’s housing, food and clothing.

Hayv Kahraman, Bab El Sheikh, 2013 “When you ask (the Prophet’s wives) for anything you want, ask them from behind a hijab” Coran 33:53

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Mystified, virginity is used as a constraining tool to expert a constant surveillance upon women. It is an object of collective preoccupation rather than a matter of the private sphere.

The world “hijab” in the Coran refers to an object that separates the intimate domestic space from the rest of the Prophet’s house that was always open to the community.

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The traditional wedding dress from Fes originates in Moorish times and is very similar to the dress of the Virgin in Semana Santa, symbol of a pure mystified entity being presented to the public.

Politicised misogynist readings the Islamic traditions have managed to resolve the issue of sexuality with a rigorous management of space that defines the woman’s place as interior.

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In the texts the whole authority that men have on women relies entirely on an economic advantage that is disappearing. As a believer, a woman is equal to a man before God.

In 2018 in Morocco, 81 seats out of 395 were occupied by women in the parliament. The only woman minister holds the position of Minister of Family, Solidarity, Women and Social Development.

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Prophet Muhamed’s wife Khadija was a business woman who proposed to him when he had no money. In fact, the Koran recommends women to be present at prayers and social gatherings.

If the discussion about women’s access to education lasted so long and was so violent it is because it presupposed access to the street –space considered until now exclusively masculine.

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The Prophet’s wife Aisha not only served the community for 44 years after his death, but is also known to have narrated over 2200 hadiths on various topics including inheritance and pilgrimage.

A “chikha” is a popular singer in Morocco. They used to sing politically charged lyrics under the occupation. The French authorities gave them a status of “women of little virtue” to subjugate them.

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Today women do have access to the mosque, but the prayers are never mixed. A small section in the back or in the mezzanine is dedicated to the few women who do go.

The traditional Moroccan dwelling has always been opened towards the interior. The light and air circulation are provided by a central opening rather than openings on the facade.

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Under the French protectorate the authorities struggled with controlling a local population that was growing out of the saturated traditional Medina onto the “European city” as bidonvilles.

The project was initiated one year after the deadliest terrorist attacks in the country’s history.

Casablanca was targeted by suicde bombers coming from the bidonville of “Sidi Moumen”.

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Number of modern mass housing projects like the “Nid d’abeilles” building were developped outside the city to host what they called the “indegenous” population.

The Years of Lead refer to a period of King Hassan II’s rule marked by state repression, discrimination against dissidents and dismantling of the education system through its Arabisation and Islamisation.

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The occupants transformed the housing projects from inside to outside. Neighbourhoods have been densified to a degree that the original concepts are almost unrecognisable.

Dismantling the education system divided the population. There is disconnect betweeen the official languages, the ones used in school and the ones spoken in different regions.

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“Villes sans bidonvilles” is a project that started in 2004 to offer an alternative solution to “bidonvilles” that present a threat to the state as they cannot be controled socially or physically.

Casablanca’s municipal pool was built in 1934 and was the largest pool in the world. It was destroyed in the 1980’s by King Hassan II who wished for the city to be endowed with an iconic mosque.

29 The Hassan II mosque has a library, a mediatheque and a museum that have been closed for over a decade. It is exclusively used by worshipers for prayers or by tourists for visits.

30 Zainab Fasiki, The protector of Casablanca, 2018 The status of women can be seen as a portrayal of men’s distress.

31 To find an alternative path of emancipation from a misogynistic system does not require rebelling against traditions altogether nor supporting a foreign myth of liberation.

32 A non patriarchal and non colonial understanding of the Islamic tradition outside of its politicised non ethical reading should be proposed to reform the place of women in Moroccan society.

Home Truths is published by REAL foundation in London, and printed by www.printondemand-worldwide.com ISBN 978-1-9164068-2-7 First edition 2018 Copyright for this work is retained jointly by the publisher, individual authors and the Architectural Association. Every effort has been made to trace copyright holders and to obtain their permission for the use of copyright material. For any queries please contact the publisher at info@real.foundation