Aicha Chenna, the iconic women’s rights advocate and activist passed away on September 25 aged 81, leaving behind a strong women’s rights legacy in the Kingdom.
Chenna was first known for her work in areas subject to social and religious taboos as an employee of the Ministry of Health.
She then took over advocating for single mothers and made it a life battle to grant these ladies the rights they do not dispose of.
Chenna fought for the status of illegitimate and abandoned children and of incest victims.
This ambassador of the feminist cause in Morocco has dedicated more than half of her life to supporting single mothers and abandoned children.
Born in Casablanca in 1941, Aïcha Chenna left to live in Marrakech before returning to Casablanca in 1953. Fatherless, she studied nursing and then worked as a health and social education animator.
In 1985, she founded the Association Solidarité féminine (ASF) for the defense of women’s rights and abandoned children. It was the first association in Morocco to offer training and literacy courses to give financial and professional independence to single mothers rejected by their families and by society.
Aicha Chenna’s activism, recognized at the national and international level, has been supported by King Mohammed VI. She said: “The King has shown me his blessing and has given me the key to the success of my mission. His encouragement, his high concern and his magnanimous gestures strengthen my conviction and give me every day the strength and courage to continue.”
Conservatives did not agree with what she promoted, and she received constant criticism due to her pro-choice convictions. The advocate and emblematic Moroccan figure helped hundreds of women, single mothers and “illegitimate” children lead a normal life, in a society that rejects and belittles them.
She was awarded for her remarkable work of activism back in 2009, when she won the USD 1 million Opus Prize, which she said would be used to ensure that her foundation, The Social Solidarity Foundation, carries on its work even after her death.
Initially run out of a basement in Casablanca, her foundation helps women that are victims of abuse and single mothers. Chenna trained them to reintegrate society so that they would secure their financial and professional independence.
She will always be remembered for her work and will remain an icon of feminism and activism in Morocco and beyond.
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