Kristia Tolode
A Place on the Terrace:
Cafe Culture and the Public Sphere in Morocco
Said
Graiouid in his article explores the cultural practices of the cafe
life in Morocco. He starts by describing gender roles within the cafe
lifestyle, as well as the utopian environment that the cafe gives to
its habitual customers. His analysis on the cafe life really portrays
the mini culture of the Moroccan ways, with the amount of growth and
progress that has been made, especially with human rights.
Women
were not seen much in cafes because it was considered improper. The
cafes are considered the space where men hang out, therefore the
women would not come into the cafes because they might get stares
from guys and that would be inappropriate on the woman's part for
exposing herself to such things. Graiouid gave an example of a
certain scenario in the article, when the woman had to send in her
young daughter to ask the owner of the cafe a question because she
couldn't go in herself. The thought of guys staring at her
inappropriately was so disgraceful, and her not entering the cafe was
to avoid looking bad. Of course the daughter is a girl too, but she
is young and so men will not be staring at her the way they would be
if it was the mother that had entered the cafe. It was really
interesting reading about this, especially living in the U.S., where
women and men are pretty much equal on a lot of levels. Meaning there
are no places where men are allowed and women are not, or it'll be
considered a taboo for them to frequent that place. It makes me eager
to start my internship here in Morocco, so I can find out more about
the issues women face in Morocco.
Further
along the pages, he explores the changes among the new generation
youths of Morocco. Morocco is becoming very modern, in other words a
lot of western influences has come into Morocco and is being
represented by the youths. The cafes that used to be a male only
zone, are now being conquered by women. Young couple frequently visit
the cafes, meaning a young man and his girlfriend. She can go in
there because she is with her boyfriend, so it's not a shame.
However, when there is a football game on TV and all the men are
there, the lady has to leave because watching the game is a ritual
thing that occurs in the cafes among men. Even women feel
uncomfortable and end up leaving anyways, and it's either the woman
leaves or the couple leave together. This is important because
usually while watching the game, the men are all smoking, using
profane languages and such, and they have to be extra careful when
using that language around women, which is why it is more comfortable
for the men if the women left. Reading this passage, I quickly tied
it into bars in the States. Usually in bars, when a game is on you
see the men gathered in front of the TV drinking and yelling at the
TV while the game is on. It's a sort of ritual as well and unless a
woman is also really into sports, you do not see them in that
specific scene. You usually see the women sitting down at a different
section in the bar, and glancing at the TV but not fully included in
the mini rituals the men put on during a game.
The
gender difference among men and women in the cafe life is quite
interesting, especially once you start going into the space that is
shared in the cafe among the different genders and how it is shared.
As Morocco is developing, more women are going into cafes on their
own without the companion of a man. Therefore, you start to see
different types of discrimination, where the women cannot seat on the
terrace, or women have to leave during a football game and such. So,
even with development you can still see that Morocco is a very
patriarchal society.
Gender roles and inequality among men and women is something that exists in almost every country in the world. It has been a present issue all throughout history, as women try to close the gap that makes them second class citizens to men.
ReplyDeleteTo be honest, when reading this article, I understand that inequalities exist even in America, but to think of such gaps as being so much larger in other places is unfortunate. Nobody wants to feel like a second class citizen. In an ideal world, we are all equal, but our world is everything but that.
How do such problems get solved? I think that responsibility will come down to the women. Women in these countries need to push the boundaries and begin to create the "new normal". Throughout history, accomplishments for various minority groups never came from the actions of the majority. They needed to make the first attempts and start the movement. The men in Morocco are content with the status qua, so the women need to begin to step out of the shadows (their homes) and make a presence out in society. Dont be ashamed if its not "normal", cause non of us are....
It is interesting how the reading describes cafe life being uncomfortable for women due to stares and crude behavior from men. One would assume that adult men would refrain from such behavior that could potentially make women feel uncomfortable.
ReplyDeleteMy experience in Morocco for the past two weeks supports the authors stance on cafe life. As an American woman I frequent the cafe alone for work, and often I notice stares from men. The stares don't bother me, but I do see how it could make some women feel uncomfortable.
Unfortunately the disparities between men and women in Morocco lie much deeper than cafe life, thus I am unsure how one would go about solving the problem. What I do know is that Moroccan women have every right to enjoy the city cafes and the like, without the worry of their dignity and virtue being compromised.
As I consider myself to be a very independent woman, reading this makes me feel upset only because I believe that there should be equality all over the world. It also reminds me that within society today, segregation and inequality still does exist. As I also think about what development means and how the definition has changed over time, I can only say that a country has not fully developed until everyone has equal rights. Within morocco, a lot of new development projects have been piping up, but they are all focused on developing the economy and keeping up with globalization. As a country that is fighting within itself to become a more democratic country, they should focus less on developing the areas and the economy, and more on their equal rights and keeping their society less segregated.
DeleteReading this, I feel very fortunate to be living in America, a country that has fought so much for women's rights. The reason I say this is because as I have passed many cafes in Rabat and went into some of them, I felt uncomfortable when I noticed that majority of them were men and I was receiving stares. It might have been due to my skin color or that I look more Indian than Moroccan but it was a little disconcerting. In America, I don't think that I have ever felt this type of way walking into a cafe and feeling like I should not be there. However, this notion of sexism still exists in America, maybe not in the cafe life but in other areas such as employment. Granted many females are moving up the corporate ladder, but it's assumed that the position will go to a male and females have to fight twice as hard to gain respect and recognition for their work. It's unfortunate that these disparities exist between men and women as this poses a great hindrance to women empowerment.
ReplyDeleteThe culture of visiting cafés is common throughout the Arab world. I do agree that women who will go to café that is dominantly men would get harassed or stared at and would prefer not to go to avoid that. It also reminds me that I read once in an article that in Ramallah, Occupied Palestine, women have opened a café where men are banned-- in retaliation?
ReplyDeleteAs a tourist in Morocco, I did go to a café or two filled with cigarette smoke where I saw no women whatsoever and got plenty of unwanted stares.
Although, I think Moroccan women can definitely utilize social media platforms to get the word and push boundaries in order to find their place wholly in the public space.
I definitely agree with Michael that gender inequalities exist not only in Morocco but also in America. The only difference is that the practice is much more blatant and obvious in Morocco compared to the U.S. We find it strange that men just stare at women who are in the cafés and people watch while sipping some mint tea, but what about in the U.S. where men check out girls at bars or people watch in Starbucks? It’s just less obvious in the U.S. because we try to do it secretively and look away when the other person notices. If we tell Moroccan men to stare at women secretively and try not to make them uncomfortable is that really changing any underlying issues that are at play?
ReplyDeleteI agree with Michael that women need to push the boundaries and challenge the status quo, but I think the only way to promote real change is to educate both men and women about these issues. Once we are able to identify, define, and articulate the issues in a concrete manner, people will be able to talk about the problems and even tackle them.
Women's rights is something that I am very passionate about, so reading your exposé about cafe life in morocco really had me thinking about the country's patriarchal society. I think that men and women should be allowed in the same places at the same time whenever they want because it's the right thing to do. However, that is from an American standpoint. Treating women as second class citizens is ridiculous and I don't understand why men respect women enough to not curse in front of them, but not enough to treat them equally. It's great that things are slowly changing, though.
ReplyDeleteWoman's rights is a touchy topic especially in the Moroccan culture. I have seen some of these scenarios played out where mubeen and women clash in areas once known to be completely make dominated. I sat with my brother in a café and watches soccer the were no woman around and even being a man I felt awkward because of the totality with which men were controling the environment. I must say though I have seen woman in situations where I would have thought they would not be considering the history. Woman seem completely independent in the streets, even going so far as to what revealing clothes.
ReplyDeleteKristia, this article touches upon some questions that I have had while being here in Morocco. Cafes can be found in almost every corner here in Morocco. It’s definitely a bit of a culture shock, for me, to see these places filled with mostly men. This is especially true because I’m a frequent visitor to cafes in my neighborhood back at home. Before coming to Morocco I had noticed that Moroccan transplants in New York City also bring this same café culture to the U.S with them. I’ve entered, what could be considered “authentic” Moroccan owned cafes, in New York, with the majority of its clientele also being Moroccan and other North African men. Although it’s perfectly legal and acceptable for myself, as a female, to enter any café—I did feel uncomfortable there. I remember getting many stares and definitely felt like I didn’t belong nor was I really welcomed. I think something as insignificant as going to a café in this culture represents much more then just simply going out for coffee or tea. It’s a strong reflection of the type of society and the norms that exist in Morocco. In this case being a very patriarchal society. Café culture and the public arena is simply an extension of who Moroccans are and their beliefs.
ReplyDeleteThis article was an excellent look into the cultural phenomenon of cafes in Morocco. In each city in Morocco there is one spot where you can surely find a group of individuals gathered together and that is any cafe. As far as beverages in the cafe the more frequented drink I have seen from experience has to be tea as opposed to coffee. The mint tea drink in specific is frequently drank by Moroccans as a social equalizer. In the states we normally have coffee shops as our ideal place to drink coffee socially. In Morocco the place to drink hot beverages socially is the cafe, and from what we have seen/witnessed coffee is drank less in comparison to tea. There are definitely a larger proportion of men to women whenever one steps into these locations. There actually was a case when we made a stop at a cafe on our way back from Chefchaouen and there were absolutely no women in the cafe whatsoever. This explanation for this is quite understandable, the fact that the woman would not want to be gazed out so she wouldn't go into the cafe makes sense. It also matters that whenever I witnessed a woman in the cafe she was always with a man even in group settings there were no all female groups.
ReplyDeleteAs a female, Graiouid's article based on the Cafe Culture and the Public Sphere in Morocco is one that I definitely can relate to from my short stay here in Morocco. There is a tremendous gap between genders in Morocco compared to America and my native country, the Dominican Republic. I think women need to get the same equality, to be seen, involved and heard.
ReplyDeleteKristia, I agree with you, Morocco is a patriarchal society going through its modernizing stages. While I have been here, I realized there are still many places that have dominant male zones. I have noticed that in Rabat you at least see a few women in the cafes compared to when we were on our way back from Chefchaouen, where we stopped in a cafe that only had men. Walking into a male dominant cafe was uncomfortable because of the stares I would get from the men that were there.
Another awkward experience that I had was when Nadia and I went to visit our home-stay aunt. Usually when we would visit we would go to the living room but instead we were taken directly to the room on the second floor. We were directed straight to the room because there were a couple of men watching the soccer game. I was told we could not be in the same room or near all of the men. We were not even allowed in the room next to the living room. It shocked me because at home my male family members or friends usually surround me.