Morocco's Prime Minister: A first for Morocco

Fatima Ezzahra El Mansouri becomes Morocco's first female head of government. After the Tunisian Najla Bouden Romdhane, she is the second woman to hold this position in the Arab world. In liberal Tunis, Romdhane's appointment in 2021 was received calmly given the many women in leading positions in public life. El Mansouri has also already demonstrated competence and leadership as mayor of Marrakesh and minister for planning and urban development.

But the fact that El Mansouri is now taking over one of the most important state offices after the king and his advisory staff is damaging the still very patriarchal values ​​of Moroccan society.

In the tourist metropolis of Marrakesh, she was the first woman to head the local council. There she placed that of Mohammed VI. the modernization course he announced when he took office in 1999. Poor neighborhoods, so-called bidonvilles, were declared dilapidated and the residents were compensated and relocated.

Shopping arcades and apartments were built to suit the wishes of international buyers and rich Moroccans. Rapid modernization has turned Marrakesh into a well-oiled tourism machine, attracting well-heeled visitors from the Gulf states as well as backpackers looking for the flair of the Orient. Former fellow students report that El Mansouri was already known for her effective work during her studies.

She had already specialized in planning and real estate law at the university in Rabat. Her decision to join PAM, the party for “authenticity and modernity”, during its founding phase was also only logical. The economically liberal PAM was started in 2008 by Fouad El Himma, a close advisor to the king, as a bulwark against the Islamists who were becoming increasingly popular at the time.

The Islamists had cleverly taken advantage of the increasing disconnection of large parts of the population from the economic and construction boom. El Mansouri, who is eloquent and easy-going, is already a counter-model to the Islamists, who often still set the tone in society in the left-behind province. "I am a devout Muslim, but I am strictly against the ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood. I will not accept Islamists in Morocco," El Mansouri said in a recent interview. A declaration of war on the conservatives of the PJD, who will co-govern until 2021 and who lost 90 percent of their seats after the normalization agreement with Israel, but are now once again one of the strongest opposition forces in parliament.

El Mansouri learned English in New York, where, like in Montpellier, she earned a diploma. It attracted international investors, World Bank conferences and large corporations to Marrakesh. A success story in keeping with the taste of the “Makhzen”, the circle around Mohammed VI that rarely appears in public. The very important decisions are made there and passed on to the government for implementation.

Many liberal Moroccan women are celebrating her appointment as head of government. “This historic moment for all Moroccan women fills me with great pride,” said Fatima Ezzahra El Mansouri after meeting Mohammed VI. visibly touched by the cameras. Many hope that with El Mansouri, conservative Moroccan society will become more open to women in leadership positions. A reform of family law, which has been in force since 2004, also falls within her term of office.