The Domain of the Men

A street-front cafe in Meknes, Morocco. No women sit at the tables. Despite recent changes in the legal status of Moroccan women - who can now, for instance, serve as police officers - the cafe in much of Morocco remains a domain for males.

Comments

[Foulla]

i would like to tell u that women in Mororcco do go to cafes and it's really not an issue in Morocco.
the cafe in the picture is definitely not in Downtown Meknes where u can see women and men together without this being considered as a revolution.
Still,the legal status of women in Morocco need a real makeover but to relate a cafe without women to the feminine condition in a country is really irrelevant.
i think it has more to do with traditions.
thank you for u're very nice site.

[OrDoesIt]

Foulla, thank you for your comment. This photo was taken right around Avenue Moulay-Ismail, by the Medina. So you're right that it's not the Ville Nouvelle. But you could walk down the street in the heart of Casablanca and see a similar scene. The men might not be wearing traditional outfits, but they still dominate the cafes. In Morocco, it seems to be a neighborhood phenomenon. The upper-class area cafes do have mixed scenes. But many, many areas do not. And a Moroccan woman who would dare to sit down in these "men-only" cafes would quickly earn a less-than-wholesome reputation. Do you disagree?

[Foulla]

u're right when the ciy is a "conservative" one, but if u go to more cosmopolitan cities i can assure u that it's totally different.
once again i wanna be clear about that:i'm not saying that women in Morocco heve all their rights, i'm just reporting a reality since i lived in Casablanca all my life before coming to the States 5 years ago.