In Morocco, Argan Oil Cooperatives Create Opportunity and Community for Women

Along the roads throughout arid southwestern Morocco are signs that direct drivers to ‘argan cooperatives.’ These punctuate the routes connecting Marrakech, Essaouira and Agadir, producing and selling the so-called “liquid gold”.

Many of the sun-bleached signs proclaim that they are ‘women’s cooperatives’, remarkable given that almost all other businesses in the area are male-dominated. Yet Argan, if you were to judge solely by the signs, is an industry run by women and in the alternative, worker-owned, economic structures.

“Before the late 1990s, nothing like this existed” Hafida, the president of Cooperative Ajddigue (situated in Tizni and established in 1997) explains, “it was Zoubida Charrouf, a scientist who researched argan oil, who really changed everything; she did the research and worked with local groups to establish the first cooperative.”

Traditionally, Argan was produced on a small scale. These days, arganières—women produce the oil within the home in spare moments around other housekeeping tasks. The final product, painstakingly produced, is then taken to town to be sold or traded by male household members. The women controlled the financial returns of their own labour.

This has all since changed.

Zoubida Charrouf uncovered the scientific properties of Argan during her PhD in the Moroccan capital, Rabat, in the 1980s and has since then worked closely with women in argan-producing regions to ensure that they gain financially from their knowledge, expertise and labour. Cooperatives, a little-known concept in these parts, could offer a structure for women to work collectively, conferring greater bargaining power and assuring an income.

The cooperatives “value the ancestral knowledge of women in producing argan oil and by uniting our resources we can increase production,” according to Jamila Raissi, director of Akkain Ourgan. The principle is simple. Establishing the first cooperatives was not.

Despite the feminist intent and the fact only women would be involved, convincing men was the most significant challenge. Prior to an overhaul in family law in 2004, Moroccan women were legally obliged to obey their husbands making it impossible for anyone to join a cooperative without their husband or fathers’ direct permission.

Hafida explains that the resistance ultimately shaped who joined the cooperatives; “at the time, one of the biggest problems was getting young women to be allowed out of the house – so instead, the cooperative movement began with the older women who would more likely gain permission to leave the home.”

Many of these women had been denied the opportunity to finish any education, were often illiterate and spoke only Berber. The cooperatives were their first experience of salaried work and the freedom that comes along with greater financial independence.

Even today, workforce participation rates amongst women in the country are meagre. A report from Morocco’s Higher Commission for Planning (HCP) shows that in 2022, 73 per cent of the 15 million active population outside the labour force were women. HCP data further indicates that 80 per cent of Morocco’s female population of working age is outside the labour market. Still, the cooperatives offer an opportunity for rural women to gain a stable income and take control of their own labour.

Many of the more established coops run training schemes, writing courses, and more to prepare women for leadership roles within the organisations. Grants from NGOs and governments have been spent on some machinery that reduces processing times, though the first stages of gathering and shelling are still entirely done by hand.

The cooperatives are a lifeline for women, particularly those who are divorced, who would otherwise struggle to find any paid work – let alone something with a consistent and stable salary. That the cooperatives were first formed with older women has had an impact on future generations, with many using the proceeds of their labour to contribute to their children’s education, particularly their daughters. Others have bought domestic appliances such as washing machines that reduce the housework burden.

Increasingly, younger women are joining the cooperatives. The young woman who greets me tells me that she is 25 and joined the cooperative straight out of school. Speaking through broken French, she tells me that she has never wanted to look for work elsewhere.

It’s clear that the women at Addjigue find more than just a financial benefit from their work – they are working together in a social space, creating a community of mutual support. They invite me to sit, show me how to shell the argan and then laugh riotously when I completely fail to hit the nut and instead appear to attempt to crack my own finger.

The success of the first cooperatives increased the profile of argan oil, first in France and Italy and then across Europe, North America and Asia. By the 2010s, Argan was a highly sought-after product for the global beauty industry. Some more sustainability brands would burnish their image by stressing that they sourced their oils from feminist cooperatives.

The growth in argan oil production and the women’s cooperatives has been positive for the region – financially, socially, and environmentally as the argan forest is a crucial barrier against the creeping Sahara. The argan forests in Morocco’s Souss-Massa region were declared a biosphere reserve and a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage site in 1998, and the increase in the profitability of argan in the 21st century has motivated its expansion and protection.

Perhaps most significantly, however, the cooperatives have changed women’s positions socially – tackling the prejudice against women working outside the home, increasing their say in financial affairs and ensuring that women have a network and a community. The most important consequence though is intergenerational.

“By purchasing our products, you contribute to women’s independence in the rural regions of southern Morocco and ensure that their children gain a schooling,” explains Jamila. As such, the cooperatives have a cascading, intergenerational, effect on women’s opportunities throughout the region.

Women in cooperatives often advocate for education and workforce participation for their daughters. The older women’s financial contribution to their households increases their status and say in such matters.

“The cooperatives have really changed mentalities here” Hafida summarises – these cooperatives are about so much more than finances.