Social media platforms in Morocco are witnessing a remarkable increase in job offers targeted towards housemaids, which raises questions by rights activists about the legal and security guarantees ensured for them.
These groups are witnessing “a growth in intermediary activity, that do not provide any guarantees against not receiving financial compensation,” as the aforementioned law prohibits individuals from engaging in the mediation of hiring domestic workers for a fee while stating that “Moroccan or foreign domestic workers can be employed through newly established private employment agencies by the provisions of Chapter Four of Law No. 65.99 relating to the labor code regarding mediation in the use and employment of licensed agents.”
In 2016, Law No. 12-19 came into effect to regulate legal procedures regarding housemaids. A decree in 2019 specified the conditions for applying the social security system to domestic workers.
Samira Mouhia, president of the Federation of Women’s Rights Leagues, said, “The 2016 law guarantees many rights for this category, but the question arises about their awareness of it and the state’s ability to ensure its implementation.” Mouhia added that “the emergence of job offers on social media platforms confirms gaps in the law, as it did not address these media, which could pose a significant danger to the lives of workers, who may be subjected to various forms of exploitation.”
She further explained that “the resort of housemaids to social media platforms is contingent upon their difficult circumstances. They are the breadwinners of families and have many financial obligations that exceed their modest economic capabilities”
This phenomenon highlights Moroccans’ inclination toward intermediaries to regulate their services. Several years ago, these services were primarily regulated by traditional brokers, who were widely favored among Moroccans. However, these brokers have now been supplanted by digital intermediaries in the form of platforms and applications.
Latifa Bouchoua, a human rights activist and member of the National Bureau of the Federation of Women’s Rights Leagues, stated that “the law exists, but its enforcement is completely absent.” She also pointed out that “the law had promised to raise the retirement age in the future, but currently, we have not seen anything of the sort,” affirming that “job offers and intermediaries on social media platforms open the door to various forms of exploitation and abuse.”
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