Skirting the Patients: Women and Health Care in Morocco and Egypt

Abstract

Over the last few decades, women’s health care worldwide has improved dramatically, yet disproportionately, between and within countries. This thesis explores the reasons for these variations in women’s access to health care between and within Morocco and Egypt from the 1980s to 2000s. I argue that political and economic structures shape women’s health, in terms of sexual and reproductive rights. In particular, I argue that at the national level, women’s incorporation into political and formal economic spaces affords them a stronger voice and more opportunities to be financially independent, which increases their access to health services. At the sub-national level, I propose that women’s location as urban or rural and their socioeconomic class has led to differential outcomes for access to health care in Morocco and Egypt. Both at the national and sub-national levels, this study finds state capacity, the ability of the government to deliver on its policies, to be the most important explanation for women’s access to health care as the governments of Morocco and Egypt have historically been unable to meet their promises. This paper contributes to extant research using the theory of female autonomy and intersectionality framework in the Middle East. My evidence comes from a wide variety of databases like the United Nations, World Health Organization, World Bank, and Demographic and Health Surveys.