ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses feminism as an African, and particularly Moroccan, experience and ideology. Most people in the West believe that feminism is a strictly western ideology and that feminism in nonwestern societies is a western import, or at best only produced by an "indigenous" westernized elite. The chapter focuses specifically on Moroccan feminism, but it's important to say a few words about the broader African context as well. As scholars who study women in precolonial African history have demonstrated, the roles and status of women have varied greatly across the continent and at different times. The chapter gives a voice to a number of Moroccan feminists so that the reader can appreciate these feminist discourses. Many of the women who managed to overcome masculine power structures went on to play an important role in Moroccan political history from ancient times to the colonial era. Some were queens; others were political leaders.
