Being women entrepreneurs in Tunisia and Morocco
In 2020 OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) report 'Changing Laws and Breaking Barriers for Women's Economic Empowerment in Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia', it emerges that in the MENA countries 20% of women of working age are working or actively looking for work compared to 70% of men: specifically 21% in Morocco and 24% in Tunisia.
A 2018 ILO survey of a sample of 200 Moroccan women interviewed found that 24% of them were working at home in a non-formal mode.
In Tunisia, the majority of women, again from ILO research, work in highly informal sectors such as agriculture and handicrafts, and struggle to get their work out in a formal way.
In 2015, Morocco launched a reform to simplify self-entrepreneurship in order to facilitate the emergence of many women employed in non-formal ways and created the Moroccan National Agency for the Promotion of SMEs (Maroc PME), which offers support on business start-up and development issues.
As a result of a collaboration with the Maroc PME, a bill was drafted and approved in 2020.
In June 2022, Morocco and Tunisia signed a joint agreement for the development of small and medium-sized enterprises in the territory, committing to the simplification of procedures and, at the same time, to the willingness to set up business start-up tools.
Although the regulatory conditions for business start-up are the same for men and women, women have less access to capital than men and only 38% of women have a current account in their name. Tunisia and Morocco are introducing mitigating systems with respect to these issues, through the promotion of microcredit programmes for women and by simplifying the mechanisms for accessing credit.
With respect to participation in entrepreneurial activity, in Tunisia 4% of women aged between 18 and 64 participate, compared to 15% of men, while in Morocco it is 5% of women compared to 7% of men who contribute to the TEA (Total Early-stage Entrepreneurial Activity Rate).
However, some institutional factors will affect the process of women's involvement and protagonism in the socio-economic systems of Tunisia and Morocco, including through entrepreneurial activities:
- The incentive to women's political participation in the MENA territories bodes well for future changes that may take place with respect to the improvement of social protection systems and, consequently, to a greater capacity for women's agency and protagonism with respect to the economy in their territories of origin. An example of this in Tunisia is the creation by Tunisia's main employers organisation (UTICA), the creation of a body dealing with support and mentorship for business start-ups for women (National Chamber of Women Entrepreneurs).
- the almost total reduction of the gender gap in higher education and the greater presence of women in university courses, including technical-scientific ones. Although not immediately evident in the professional and career paths of the women themselves.
WE PROPOSE therefore intends to observe these aspects and to bring out life stories of women entrepreneurs in Morocco and Tunisia in order to understand the impacts that business start-ups have on the communities of reference of the women interviewed, as well as on their level of self-awareness with respect to their own life path.