Empowering Women through Liquid Gold

Sahil Khoja

Research Question

To what extent did the birth of the Argan Oil Sector in Morocco affect the role

of women in Moroccan society?

1 Abstract

The paper examines how the Argan Oil Cooperatives in Morocco positively

altered the social, economic, and political status of women. It undertakes a his-

torical investigation of the circumstances that the women lived in, specifically in

underdeveloped areas of rural Morocco. The investigation deals with the rela-

tionship between the Argan Oil Cooperatives and the members (women) working

for the cooperative to examine the question: To what extent did the birth of the

Argan Oil Sector in Morocco affect the role of women in Moroccan society?

To answer this question, the traditional role of Moroccan women, initiatives of

Argan Oil Cooperatives, and the structure of these cooperatives will be examined.

The Argan Oil Cooperatives empowered women with their ability to conduct busi-

ness by employing traditional methods of processing Argan Oil made by Berber

women. The significance of the cooperative becomes even more evident when men

are found bringing their wives to cooperative, asking if their wives can be part

of this culture. In addition to employment, Argan Oil Cooperatives gave board

positions to these women, a responsibility that rural Moroccan women previously

were not allowed to hold. An interview of a President of the cooperative and spe-

cific economic data will be used to show the culture shifts that the cooperatives

created within a rural society.

The conclusion reached is that the high esteem held by women in rural Mo-

rocco can be attributed to the success of the 150 cooperatives that span Southeast

Morocco. These cooperatives have changed the private and public image of women

while at the same time sustaining and improving the Moroccan economy. Women

have seen internal improvements, encouraging children to attend school and learn

languages such as Arabic and French. Overall, the cooperative movement simul-

taneously revamped a polarized society while bettering Moroccan women.

1

Contents

1 Abstract 1

2 Introduction 3

2.1 Women in Morocco . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

2.2 The Industry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

3 Social Effects 9

4 Economic Effects 11

5 Political Effects 14

6 Conclusion 17

2

2 Introduction

The argan tree is an 80 million year old tree species that was discovered and

used during the time of the Phoenicians. Living for over 150 years, these trees pro-

vide soil stabilization, erosion reduction, moisture, and fruit for the argan forest

dwellers’ rich diet. In the 20th century alone, argan forests have further diminished

by 50% due to overgrazing, demand for fuel, and conversion to exportable crops.

Due to this, the argan forest was declared a UNESCO biosphere in 1998. Zoubida

Charrouf, professor at Mohammad V. University, envisioned a solution for this

trend. “I realized argan forests are going to disappear so I wanted to study how to

commercialize argan,” said Charrouf about the impetus behind sparking the argan

oil sector. Charrouf planned to use the commercialization of liquid gold to address

several issues in rural Morocco such as incentivizing local populations to discon-

tinue harmful practices in the Argan forests and financially motivating populations

to engage in the commercialization. However, these goals could not be achieved

due to production difficulties within local populations; argan oil is exclusively pre-

pared by local, Moroccan, Amazigh woman. Knowing this, Charrouf realized that

this commercialization would require a shift in the status of women in Morocco1.

To assess the influence of this commercialization, the research question that will

be investigated is: To what extent did the birth of the Argan Oil Sector in

Morocco effect the role of women in Moroccan society? In answer to this

question, the investigation will examine the initial stages and development of the

argan oil sector and the impact this industry had on this agricultural society. This

investigation will also assess the changes in social, political, and economical roles

of women, before, during, and after the emergence of the sector. The researcher

has conducted interviews of people currently working in the argan oil industry to

assess the scope of success the industry had on influencing the role of women in a

1Zahir Dossa, “Cooperatives: A Development Strategy?,” European Research Institute on

Cooperative and Social Enterprises N.029 (2011): 1-3.

3

patriarchal society. Thus, the author of the investigation will be able to argue that

this commercialization had great success in engendering new roles for women, but

will also argue that this commercialization was not able to achieve the complete

framework of goals it had initially laid out.

Many other Middle Eastern countries face similar challenges to Morocco: rich

resources at disposal and poor status of women. Researching and providing a

careful analysis of this question is of great importance because Morocco could serve

as a model for other Middle Eastern countries to uplift the status of women through

the use of local, exclusive resources. This equal employment would strengthen the

gross domestic product of the country without burdening the economy due to the

use of local resources, similar to what happened in Morocco.

In order to evaluate the extent of influence the argan oil sector had, the inves-

tigation will first examine the initial conditions of women in Moroccan society, as

well as the framework and fruition of the argan oil sector.

2.1 Women in Morocco

The vast majority of women in Morocco experience oppression due to their

gender and socioeconomic status. Many areas of Morocco follow traditional Islamic

customs, further discouraging women from employment and restricting women to

the confines of a patriarchal society. From the time a woman is married, she is

unable to attain any sort of personal freedom. Upon her first entry into her new

home, the groom hits the bride with a tisila, a traditional Moroccan male shoe, as

a symbol of submission to the head of the household. This perpetuation of male

power resides in that the meaning of marriage is to protect the an-nasab ’descent’ of

the male lineage. The gender dichotomy does not end with the marital ceremonies,

but is further strengthened when a women first gives birth. In Moroccan tradition,

if a women gives birth to a baby boy, the baby is welcomed with three ’yu-yu’s’

4

’cries of joy’ while none are given if a girl is born, establishing a gender hierarchy.

Some Moroccan villages even go as far as putting a dead sheep’s hide at the front

of the new mother’s door, punishing and humiliating the mother if she gives birth

to a girl. These biases against girls in Moroccan society are bolstered by sayings

in Moroccan culture; boys are said to ’fill the house’ ’ka cammru ddar’ while girls

are said to ’empty the house’ ’ka jxwiw ddar’ by getting married to another family.

Not only are women ridiculed in social contexts such as marriage and birth, but

also in political contexts such as hierarchies and occupations.2

After a woman is married, she traditionally moves into a home with her spouse

and raises a family. This partnership also comes with many legal texts that cause

the political dichotomy. Although the text itself is quite clear, it is often contra-

dicted in practice. The law states that the male should satisfy the needs of his

wife and children, when in reality, the women’s salary is what keeps the house

standing. Because of this contribution, women are allowed to negotiate their role

in the household, potentially decreasing the male dominance. Another example of

this contradiction is when a woman divorces her husband. According to the law,

the children must remain with the mother after the divorce. In practice, the father

ends up keeping the children because of his status as a provider and guardian of the

family. The children are seen as property of the father. This ambiguity between

the status of women in law and the status of women in society is the reason for

the stagnation of women’s rights and society’s social attitude towards women. In

addition to politics, women are often the first group of people to receive the blow

during economic crises.3

Women in Morocco have struggled for many decades to incorporate themselves

into the economic cycle, a specific problem that Argan Oil cooperatives seek to

solve. Moroccan women are often the first victims of any economic depressions.

Although the International Monetary Fund and the Word Bank have put policies

2Fatima Sadiqi, Women, Gender and Language in Morocco(Boston: Brill, 2003), 51-973Ibid.

5

in place, the organization often neglects the lower class in society, mainly women.

These policies, or budget cuts, take money away from social sectors such as health

and education. Education expenditure per capita decreased at a rate of 11% from

1983 to 1989, resulting in a decline of 8.7% in school enrolment rates between 1985

and 1990. Because Moroccan society looks down upon education for women, young

women were greatly affected. Enrollment declined 10% for girls compared to 7.8%

for boys. Peasant girls were hit the worst with a 13% decline. Older women are

also affected by the economic crises as they were excluded from higher class jobs

and forced to take lower class jobs. Since 1990, poverty has become more and

more ’feminized’, a trend the visionaries of the Argan Tree sector wish to halt.4

2.2 The Industry

For many centuries, the Imazighen people have used the Argan fruit for cos-

metic and nutritional purposes. The fruit was prepared at a rudimentary level

involving tedious multi-step processes with no machines.5The women often pre-

pared Argan Oil using unsanitary Argan fruits and nuts from the feces of goats,

and sell the oil for $2-$3 to traveling tourists.6The next idea was to commercialize

this practice, serving as an impetus to reduce usage of the Argan tree as well as

to provide profits for the local community. Because Moroccan women exclusively

prepare the oil, it was only viable to create women-only cooperatives to prepare

this product. To minimize the transport of fruits, nuts, and other materials, coop-

eratives were planted in villages throughout Morocco. Because of this, many areas

finally received electricity in their area. The local populations were beginning to

reap the benefits of the cooperative model before any oil had even been produced.

4Ibid.5Zoubida Charrouf and Dom Guillaume,”The argan Tree, an asset for Morocco,” Biofutur

220 (2002): 54-57.6Zoubida Charrouf et. al.,”Effect of Processing on the Quality of Edible Argan Oil,” Food

Chemistry 120 (2009): 1-2.

6

It was decided that the production of the oil would not be saturated with machines

in order to maintain authenticity and jobs.7

Argan oil production consists of four basic steps. First, rural villagers venture

out to forests and collect Argan fruit. Second, the fruit is sold to an intermediary

or straight to the cooperative. Third, women in cooperatives prepare the oil by

de-pulping the fruit and de-shelling the nuts to produce the almond. Fourth, the

almond is pressed into oil and then sold.8

Figure 1: Argan Oil Production Process9

Since its commercialization, Argan Oil has served as a model product for rural

households. After it is collected, Argan fruit can be dried and stored for many

years, giving flexibility to farmers who sell the product. Argan can be sold as fruit,

7Zoubida Charrouf and Dom Guillaume,”Sustainable Development in Northern Africa: The

Argan Forest Case,” Sustainability 1012-1022 (2009): 4-5.8Daria Kaboli and Zhen Liu, Rural Poor Communities and High Value Crops in Morocco:

Developing an Effective Industrial Policy for Argan(Boston: John F. Kennedy School of Govern-

ment, 2012), 12-14.9Ibid.

7

almonds, and oil, allowing households to harness the fruit and its market prices.10

10Ibid.

8

3 Social Effects

Not only has the industry had a profound impact on rural households, but

also has transformed the role of women in Moroccan society. As mentioned above,

Moroccan law states that men have the position of being the primary provider for

their respective families within the household. Although this law is not practiced,

it creates social contention that furthers the gender gap between men and women

in Morocco. Because of this, men will only allow their wives to commit to low

class work or a type of job that is expected by society. Of the small percentage of

rural women that is in the workforce, most participate in agricultural production,

providing for their husbands while continuing the social stigma of women’s work.

In 1989, 82.9% of Moroccan women were counted as family helpers, an unpaid job.

When women do earn a living from their work, it generates mixed feelings from

society. Some think that it can be used as additional income while others think

that it is against the social norms of the patriarchal society.11 As the Argan Oil

Sector developed, it reformed the way society viewed women’s work. Originally,

many men were averse to the idea of their wives working with foreign cooperatives,

as this was a paid occupation. In addition, because many of these women were

rural and Berber speaking, it created more of a reason for women not to work as

they had a limited skill set. However, as time went on, the husbands realized that

they are not making enough of a salary to be content and often have to be away

from the family. It was only logical to have another source of income to provide

for the family and children. Women began joining the cooperative movement

slowly but reaped the benefits immediately in terms of salary, social conscious,

and programs. Before, these women were not employed nor did they have an

alternate occupation, so this first job was a watershed moment for rural villages

across Morocco. According to an interview conducted with Zahir Dossa, Founder

and President of The Argan Tree, every week there are twenty couples waiting

11Sadiqi, Women, Gender and Language in Morocco, 211-213.

9

in line for their women to be employed. The men encourage their wives to work

for cooperatives and are supportive of this employment opportunity. Moreover,

cooperatives like The Argan Tree host literacy programs for their women that

teach them how to speak French and Arabic, languages that are held in very

high regard among the Moroccan people. Aside from the programs, the women

themselves no longer worry about the social stigma of employment. Rather, they

are very appreciative and content with this opportunity.12 They now realize how

important it is to earn and handle a salary, a concept that was foreign to them

when they held jobs as family helpers. However, the commercialization of this

oil has not helped the conscious’s of these women in environmental issues. Many

cooperatives sought to create reforestation initiatives for the dying tree, but were

not able to meet this goal successfully. The women believed that reforestation is

slow growing and the payout is minimal, while protecting existing trees to keep a

stable production process. In addition, the over-harvesting of these areas threatens

natural regeneration, which could in turn affect the prices that the oil is sold at in

the future.13 Although this is an area of improvement for cooperatives, The Argan

Oil Sector had settled the social contention within Moroccan society

12Zahir Dossa, interview by Sahil Khoja, Dallas, TX, July 20, 2014.13Travis Lybbert and Christopher Barrett, Does Resource Commercialization Induce Local

Conservation? A Cautionary Tale From Southwestern Morocco(Ithaca: Cornell Department of

Applied Economics and Management, 2002), 28-30.

10

4 Economic Effects

Until the advent of Argan Oil Cooperatives, women in Morocco did not have

the opportunity or the social status to obtain an occupation. Many of them did

not contribute to the household income, until cooperatives such as the Agadir

cooperative and the Argan Tree began to form in rural Morocco. The Adagir

cooperative contained only 15 women when it formed in 2004. Due to the lack

of mechanization in the processing of argan oil, the 15 women working in the

cooperative had to collect the raw argan fruit and break the fruit to obtain the

kernels using only their hands. The kernels would then be sold to surrounding

cooperatives, yielding a salary of one EUR for every two days worked.14This is

not what these women expected after arduous labor. ”Women didn’t even want

to be in it,” recalls one participant in Berber. However, the lackadaisical attitude

of the women changed when the cooperative received a grant of 27,000 EUR from

Projet Arganier between 2006 and 2007 to purchase oil press, filtration, and bot-

tling machines. Projet Arganier provided 1.3 million EUR in grants to 41 other

cooperatives during this period, taking care of 86% of all expansion costs. The

rapid influx of money caused a shift in the number of women working for the

Adagir cooperative, from a meager 15 members to 60 members. The cooperative

itself reported 124 thousand EUR in profits for the 2008 fiscal year through its

only source of income: Argan Oil. During this same year, the salaries of women

increased from 2,60 EUR per kilogram of kernels produced to 3,50 EUR per kilo-

gram produced. The wages, including a bonus of 75 EUR paid to each member,

totaled to 37 thousand EUR. The table below captures the economic date for the

Adagir Cooperative, as well as the entire Argan Co-op Sector itself.15

14Dossa, ”Cooperatives: A Development Strategy?,” 7.15Ibid.

11

Figure 2: Economic Data of Adagir Cooperative, Members, and Sector (EUR)16

Other cooperatives in rural areas, such as Tidzi, a village in a low density

forest, are experiencing the same success. The Targinine cooperative contains 40

members and pays women 20-25 DH per day (approximately 8 hours every day).

It is interesting to note that men in the same area make 35-40 DH per day. The

observation shows that financially a mere 10 DH (2.72 dollars) separates women

from men. The table below compares the gender wage gaps of men in women in

Morocco as well as the United States. Compared to the United States, Morocco

is seen as a poor, developing country, but the table below shows that there is not

a significant difference between the two country’s gender wage gaps.

16Ibid.

12

Figure 3: Gender Wage Gap Comparison17

From 0 AED per day, women have made significant improvement in terms of

their place in the economy of Morocco by exploiting the financial opportunities

from the cooperative. Zahir Dossa, President of the Argan Tree, says, ”The mem-

bers of the Argan Tree realize the importance of money and prioritize their finances

much more than before. In their free time (a foreign concept to Berber women),

the women constantly want to learn how to handle their finances and to work even

more for the betterment of their children.”18

17Bureau of Labor Statistics, Usual Weekly Earnings of Wage and Salary Workers:

Fourth Quarter 2007, Washington, D.C.: United States Department of Labor, 2008,

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/archives/wkyeng01172008.pdf (accessed August 25th, 2014).;

All data reflects wages and salaries from the year 2007, as the data from the Tidzi cooperative

was provided from the year 2007.18Dossa, interview

13

5 Political Effects

In Morocco, under the first Constitution, women have been allowed to partici-

pate in the political process since 1962. Under Article 8 of the Constitution, ’Men

and women enjoy equal political rights’ and ’all citizens of age of both sexes, in

the exercise of their civil and political rights are voters.’ Many women in Morocco

participate in elective institutions, legislature, and are members in the Chamber

of Representatives.19 Although this is a generalization of women throughout all

of Morocco, women in rural areas do not have the same political freedom as the

women living in urban and sub-urban areas. In rural areas, legal and societal bar-

riers do not allow women to access the justice system. The courts in these areas

will often give more weight to the testimony of a man rather than a woman’s and

many women are reluctant to fight against their husbands in court because of the

potential damage it could do to the family reputation. In addition, many men

will fill out court papers on the behalf of their illiterate wives, showing the lack of

participation of women in the legal system. Various Articles such as Articles 418,

491, and 490 favor men over women, which obstruct rural women from represen-

tation in the political process.20To an extent, within its own systems, Argan Oil

Cooperatives helped alleviate this disparity.

There are more than 150 cooperatives across Morocco and nearly all of them

belong to an association. Each association holds between 5-22 cooperatives. The

various components of the role of each institution are shown in the figure below:

19Rachida Tahri,”Women?s Political Participation: The Case of Morocco,” Association

Dmocratique des femmes du Maroc (2003): 1-2.20Sanja Kelly, Womens Rights in the Middle East and North Africa: Progress amid Resis-

tance(New York: Freedom House, 2010), 4-5.

14

Figure 4: Institutional Hierarchy21

The average cooperative has 46 members. Six of these members consist of

the leadership board of the cooperative. The board contains the President, Vice-

president, Secretary, and Treasurer. Each cooperative also employs staff to operate

in the sales and marketing section of the hierarchy. These jobs have duties such

as running retail stores, managing operations, and operating machinery. Although

the Cooperatives are formed under Moroccan law, their governance is strikingly

different when it comes to the role of women.

Each member has 1 vote, totaling a range between forty and sixty votes from

women, depending on the cooperative. The members of the cooperative vote for all

of the positions on the board, such as the President, Vice-President, Secretary, and

Treasurer. This is a step in the involvement of women into some sort of political

process, but not to the same extent of integrating women into the economical

and social contexts. Although these rural women have a right to vote, a right

that they previously did not have in their environment, many of the women are

21Dossa, ”Cooperatives: A Development Strategy?,” 5.

15

blind to the institutional hierarchy. Within the cooperative exists white ballot

procedures and corruption, as men would put only their wife’s names onto the

ballots. Many women even claimed that they did not know who the President

of the cooperative was, which is ironic because the President is who provides the

salary for the women.22Regardless of this obstruction, the Berber women were very

gracious and pleased to have the positions that they were appointed, as it was the

first time they were able to hold a position in a politically hostile environment.23

22Projet Arganier, ”Support for improving the employment situation of rural women and

sustainable management of the argan tree in South-Western Morocco.” Adagir (2008): 3-423Dossa, interview

16

6 Conclusion

The investigation concludes that the fruition of the Argan Oil Sector in Mo-

rocco had a significant impact on the socio-economic improvement of women. In

a traditional, Islamic community, it is very difficult to alter the perceived norms

of society when discussing gender. The Argan Oil Sector was able to change the

dynamics within the household while at the same time placing women with a po-

sition of power within an existing corporation, or cooperative. In an environment

where women are socially, culturally, financially, and politically oppressed, the Ar-

gan Oil Sector improved the conditions of members alike within all of the aspects

mentioned above. By providing education programs for women and urging fami-

lies to send their children to school on a daily basis, the cooperative culture made

the rural Moroccan society self-sustaining. By harnessing the traditional process

of the Berber woman, cooperatives were able to make a value supply chain that

provided financial security of all forms for women while earning a steady profit. By

creating an institutional hierarchy, women were allowed to taste for the first time

how to lead a cooperative and oversee operations. However, the Sector was not

able to eliminate the corruption that exists within the institutional hierarchy, an

improvement that could be sought after in future years. Although the effects of the

fruition of the sector may lack in improvement of the political status of women, the

Argan Oil Sector influenced the social and economic merits of Moroccan women

to an extent that is still evidenced today.

17

References

1 Bureau of Labor Statistics. Usual Weekly Earnings of Wage

and Salary Workers: Fourth Quarter 2007. Washing-

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http://www.bls.gov/news.release/archives/wkyeng1172008.pdf (accessed

August 25th,

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3 Charrouf, Zoubida and Dom Guillaume. ”Sustainable Development in Northern

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Argan Oil.” Food Chemistry 120 (2009): 1-2.

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John F. Kennedy School of Government, 2012. 12-14.

7 Kelly, Sanja. Women’s Rights in the Middle East and North Africa: Progress

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18

10 Tahri, Rachida. ”Womens Political Participation: The Case of Morocco.” As-

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19