On 13 January 2017 the Euro-Mediterranean Academic and Scientific Network on Women and Gender (RUSEMEG) organized a seminar about the impact of social and cultural norms in the “making” of women’s bodies process at the Faculty of Economical, Juridical and Social Sciences of Tangier (Morocco). This activity is part of the project «Capacity-building of equality actors» funded by the French Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Development, and of the project ‘Developing women’s empowerment’, labeled by the Union for the Mediterranean.

The seminar, which is the 7th organized by the RUSEMEG, aimed at contributing to the analysis of gender disparities’production mechanisms through the study of the “making” of bodies. Similarly, it also explored its impact in the Euro-Mediterranean context, taking different perspectives that took into account the political and cultural diversity of the different Mediterranean countries, particularly in Morocco, where the seminar took place.

The multidisciplinary debate was divided into three parts: Bodies and culture, Bodies and violence and Bodies in movements, and some conclusions emerged from the seminar. Thus, several trends were pointed out, such as the fact that the bodies’perception in the South Mediterranean societies is constantly evolving, linked to the democratic progress; the emergence of LGBT movements, particularly in Morocco and Tunisia; the importance of visual arts and literature regarding bodies’representation and the discriminatory social standards’building; the influence of the religious speech in the categorization between male and female related to the society’s perception of bodies; or the central role of the body in social relationships and in the inequalities among women and men.

The diversity of participants in the seminar enabled to share and exchange experiences, as well as theoretical knowledge and good practices concerning the concept of “gender". Moreover, the use of a theoretical and critical common language constitutes a positive result for an international scientific community.

The event involved Naïma Chikhaoui (Rabat), Zouhair Ghassim (Casablanca), Marta Segarra (Barcelona), Jean Zaganiaris (Rabat) and Chemseddoha Boraki (Tangier) who dealt with social standards from different point of views, and different political and cultural approach of the bodies. The intervention of Fatma Oussedik (Algiers) focused on Algeria; and those of Monia Lachheb (Tunis) and Nassim Hamdi (Tunis), on Tunisia. The communications from Éric Fassin (Paris) and Lina Abirafeh (Beirut) took a more general perspective.

Simultaneously, a doctoral workshop and a meeting with several associations from Tangier were organized on 12 January.

To know more, you can check the attached documents and resources* listed below.

- Bibliography related to the seminar topic

- Summary of the meeting with the associations on 12th January

- Summary of the doctoral workshop on 12th January

- Summary of the seminar on 13th January

- Communications presented in the seminar on 13th January

- Facebook photo album*All the materials are in French.