Abstract

CARVALHEIRA, Raquel. To choose, care and protect: masculinity and family dynamics in Morocco. Etnográfica [online]. 2017, vol.21, n.3, pp.613-625. ISSN 0873-6561.

This article discusses gender relations in Morocco through the analysis of three male accounts: two of marriage and one of a man’s personal investment in his sisters’ education. Its main objective is to analyse masculinity as a social and historical process and to understand the interaction between enduring structures of male domination and changing ways of life, values and forms of family organization. In Morocco, the desegregation of public space, increasing urbanization and progressive integration of women into the wage-labour market are among the factors which have contributed to shifts in the relationships between men and women within the family unit. The accounts featured in this article serve as starting points for assessing the tensions, limitations and daily negotiations inherent to the process of constructing masculinities and femininities, as well as for dismantling dichotomous readings of gender power relations.

Keywords : Morocco; gender relations; masculinity; family; marriage; education.

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