Introduction

The absence of female political elites in Morocco raises a major issue; it goes beyond the mere underrepresentation of women in elected institutions and questions the conditions for producing political elites and the rules governing this production. Despite the legal and constitutional gains women have made over the past two decades, they remain far from positions of real decision-making power within parliament, political parties, and government. This raises questions about the effectiveness of existing laws and institutional regulations in supporting the rise of a genuine, independent, and effective female political class. This paper will analyze the issue by examining the relationship between legal texts, political actors, decision-making dynamics, and actual policy outcomes. This question becomes even more acute when women in a political and institutional context with limited possibilities are expected to perform exceptionally, which is often presented as a condition for the legitimacy of their presence. This imposes on them a burden of proof that is not demanded with the same intensity from their male counterparts and is inconsistent with the real conditions that produce political elites in general.

This analysis presumes that the absence of female elites is due not only to cultural or social factors, as has been emphasized in much of the literature. There are specific political and legal choices that have defined the limits and pace of women’s participation and integration – through electoral laws or the internal regulations of the two houses of parliament – that control the distribution of responsibilities and positions of power within the legislative institution. These rules, while seemingly neutral on the surface, contribute to the gender hierarchy within the political sphere, excluding women from decision-making circles and limiting their participation to symbolic or marginal roles. This paper also aims to evaluate the experience of the quota system in Morocco over two decades of implementation, analyzing its legal and political trajectory and monitoring its impact on women’s representation and the creation of a female political elite; it concludes with practical proposals for quota system reform that would transition it from a mere mechanism for electoral regulation to an effective tool for women’s empowerment.