Fès is moving thanks also to its women

Najia Tawil She chose to live to help others

President of the women's association Al Ahd Al Jadid for crafts and manual work, Najia Tawil has succeeded in changing the daily life of many women in Fès by ensuring them a stable income and financial independence. With few means but a heart of gold and a will of steel, this preschool teacher, passionate about crafts, grouped her neighbours in 2005, for the most part housewives in a difficult economic situation, within the framework of an association. These women learned sewing, embroidery, and weaving and were able, thanks to the support of the INDH subsequently, to access the financial and technical means necessary for their development. "My goal is to help women in difficult situations to have a stable income, by providing them with the know-how, then letting them fly on their own wings", she specifies. Today, between the association, blood donation campaigns, visits to hospitals and charitable homes and also the fight against illiteracy, Najia Tawil has made with conviction the choice to be at the service of others.

Founder in 1998 of the Initiatives for the Protection of Women's Rights, in Fès, Asmaa Al Mahdi has been working for years on several fronts to help women victims of gender-based violence. This mother of three, a professor of French literature at the Ecole normale in Fès, multiplies actions and interventions with officials and international organisations to defend the condition of women. For her, tradition, ignorance and also obsolete legal texts are at the origin of discrimination against women. "For some years now, there have been certain advances in terms of improving the condition of women in Morocco and this is, moreover, thanks to a clearly displayed royal will. We hope that the current government will ensure the activation of legal reforms and better adapt the laws", she confides. In the meantime, Asmaa El Mehdi works with other militants within the Batha multifunctional centre for the empowerment of women in distress.

Confident and sure of herself, Rachida Hlimi is president of the Court of First Instance of Sefrou. She is an exceptional woman. She has been present in the judiciary since 1997, the year that saw her appointment as a judge at the Court of First Instance of Fès. In 2004, she was appointed judge at the Family Court in Fès and elected representative of the judges to the Hassania Amicale of magistrates. In May 2011, she was appointed head of the Court of First Instance of Sefrou. "The woman judge occupies a place of choice in Morocco, the first Arab country to see a woman appointed judge in 1962. Today, women judges represent 26% of the judiciary body in Morocco and occupy the same functions as their male colleagues", she comments. She also specifies that thanks to the Moudawana, there have been numerous advances in terms of protecting women's rights, but she deplores the fact that many flaws still exist in the application of this legislative text.

General Secretary of Dar Al Atfal Al Ouafae, Nawal Benkirane has been committed for some years, body and soul, to a fight for a better life for abandoned children. "Our association has, at its head, a great militant in the person of Nadia Bennis. It takes care of nearly 136 boarders aged from three years old, who are supervised by 26 educators. We want to improve their living conditions and ensure them a better daily life", she indicates. Nawal Benkirane is a mother of three children and is a doctoral student in French literature. She campaigns in meetings and awareness campaigns so that society's view of abandoned children changes.

She has a pleasant smile that never leaves her lips. Fatima Bennani Hasnaoui is a woman business leader who is not afraid of challenges. Early determined to succeed in her professional career, she converted from the public to the private sector without difficulty. First, an administrator in public health, then a teacher in international relations at the university, she finally integrated the field of entrepreneurship by taking charge of the orders of a company operating in the dairy industry. "I had the heavy task of turning around a company in structural difficulties. To achieve this, I implemented with my team several strategies and upgrading plans. Fortunately, my efforts were successful and my company is currently viable and performing", she explains. Fatima Hasnaoui has campaigned for some years for the Fès-Pionnière incubator project. Initiated by the Fès section of the Association of Women Entrepreneurs of Morocco (AFEM) of which she is general secretary, this project today allows many women to create their own businesses and to invest confidently in the business world.

Provider / Source : Le Matin