Digital Storytelling and Legal Feminist Struggles in the Maghreb:  A critical review of NGO strategies

Ikram Douaou; Fatima-Zohra Iflahen

doi:10.21834/e-bpj.v10i33.7243

Authors

Ikram Douaou Doctoral Student, Cadi Ayyad University, UCA, Faculty of Letters and Human Sciences, Languages and Humanities Laboratory, Avenue Abdelkrim Khattabi, Marrakech, Morocco
Fatima-Zohra Iflahen Full Professor, Cadi Ayyad University, UCA, Faculty of Letters and Human Sciences, Languages and Humanities Laboratory, Avenue Abdelkrim Khattabi, Marrakech, Morocco

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21834/e-bpj.v10i33.7243

Keywords:

Digital activism, Intersectionality, Feminist NGOs, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), legal reforms

Abstract

This article presents a narrative review of feminist digital activism in Morocco and Tunisia. It focuses on how NGOs use social media to raise awareness, build collective narratives, and advocate for legal reform. Based on a corpus of literature from 2015 to 2025, the analysis highlights strategies of digital appropriation, storytelling, and legal protest. The study shows that digital tools are powerful but unevenly accessible, and that online activism reflects both local struggles and global influences. It offers a critical perspective on feminist mobilization in postcolonial North African contexts.

References

Amezoirou, R. (2024). The new media and the empowerment of Moroccan women. The International Journal of Cross-cultural Communication and Media Studies, 1(2), 21–31.

Arfaoui, K. (2020). Women in Action in Tunisia (Issue Brief) Baker Institute for Public Policy, Rice University.

Arfaoui, K., & Moghadam, V. M. (2016). Violence against women and Tunisian feminism: Advocacy, policy, and politics in an Arab context. Current Sociology, 64(4), 637–653. https://doi.org/10.1177/0011392116640481

Asfari Institute for Civil Society and Citizenship. (2023). Feminist activism during the COVID pandemic: Zooming on the MENA region. American University of Beirut.

Belhorma, S., & Yachoulti, M. (2019). The role of social media in promoting women's rights in Morocco in the aftermath of the Arab Spring. La Revue Marocaine de la Pensée Contemporaine, 3.

Castillo-Esparcia, A., Caro-Castaño, L., & Almansa-Martínez, A. (2023). Evolution of digital activism on social media: Opportunities and challenges. Profesional de la Información, 32(3), e320303. https://doi.org/10.3145/epi.2023.may.03

Chahbane, H., & Houssaini, K. (2025). Breaking Barriers: Digital Activism's Role in Changing Morocco's Political Landscape. International Journal of Contemporary Research in Multidisciplinary, 4(1), 11 - 15. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.14628898

Derdar, M. (2020). Moroccan college students' perceptions of feminism: The case study of Chouaib Doukkali University. Journal of Applied Language and Culture Studies, 3, 285–304.

Douida, A. (2023). Mobilization of women, digital media coverage, and the emergence of bottom-up activism in Maghreb [Unpublished research proposal]. University of Algiers Benyoucef Benkhedda. https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.10894.74562

El Asmar, F. (2020). Claiming and reclaiming the digital world as a public space: Experiences and insights from feminists in the Middle East and North Africa. Oxfam. https://doi.org/10.21201/2020.6874

El Issawi, F (2016). Moroccan national media: between change and status quo. Technical Report. London School of Economics and Political Science, Middle East Centre.

El Kirat El Allame, Y. (2020). Gender matters: Women as actors of change and sustainable development in Morocco (Issue brief). Baker Institute for Public Policy, Rice University.

Evans, E., & Lépinard, É. (Eds.). (2020). Intersectionality in feminist and queer movements: Confronting privileges. Routledge.

Fotaki, M., & Pullen, A. (2024). Feminist theories and activist practices in organization studies. Organization Studies, 45(4), 593–616.

https://doi.org/10.1177/01708406231209861

Kampourakis, I. (2016). Nancy Fraser: Subaltern counterpublics. Critical Legal Thinking. https://criticallegalthinking.com/2016/11/06/nancy-fraser-subaltern-counterpublics/

Karolak, M. (2017). The use of social media from revolution to democratic consolidation: The Arab Spring and the case of Tunisia. Journal of Arab & Muslim Media Research, 10(2), 199–216. https://doi.org/10.1386/jammr.10.2.199_1

Mehta, B. (2024). Solidarity across borders: Online gender activism and the construction of a Middle East and North African regional public space. Gender & Development, 32(1–2), 547–573. https://doi.org/10.1080/13552074.2024.2351302

Moghadam, V. M. (2019). Social transformation in a digital age: Women's participation in civil and political domains in the MENA region. IEMed Mediterranean Yearbook, 2019, 140–145.

Narayanan, A. (2023). Understanding social media recommendation algorithms [Essay]. Knight First Amendment Institute.

https://knightcolumbia.org/content/understanding-social-media-recommendation-algorithms

Ouassini, A. (2021). We are all Amina Filali: Social media, civil society, and rape legislation reform in Morocco. Women & Criminal Justice, 31(1), 77–82. https://doi.org/10.1080/08974454.2019.1698488

Santos, N. (2022). Social media logics: Visibility and mediation in the 2013 Brazilian protests. Springer Nature.

Sipos, X. Z. (2023). The role and limits of women's rights movements in shaping the political, economic, social, and cultural processes in the Maghreb from independence until present: A case study of Tunisia and Morocco [Doctoral dissertation, Budapesti Corvinus Egyetem]. https://doi.org/10.14267/phd.2023018

Tazi, M. (2021). The Arab Spring and women's (cyber) activism: "Fourth wave democracy in the making?" Case study of Egypt, Tunisia, and Morocco. Journal of International Women's Studies, 22(9), 298–315.

Zaid, B., Ibahrine, M., Dragomir, M., Thompson, M., Jamaï, A., Chan, Y. Y., ... & Tambini, D. (2011). Mapping digital media: Morocco. London: Open Society Institute.