Women in Morocco
The situation of women in Morocco is somewhere between that of women in the West and those in conservative Islamic countries like Saudi Arabia. Here in Casablanca, everything seems fine on the surface. Clothing varies: women wear the entire range from the traditional conservative jelaba and foulard (although chadras are rare), to Western suits, to skin-tight shirts and mini-skirts. The choice of dress tends to depend on both age and occupation: in general, teenagers wear sexy or casual Western clothes; professional women wear Western-style business clothing; and older, blue-collar, and unemployed women wear jelabas.
I see both men and women working together almost everywhere I go: in banks, bakeries, schools, stores, and even government offices (although there are noticeably more men than women in the latter). I have never seen women running a stall at the souq (market) or driving a taxi; these domains seem to be reserved for men. From the conversations I've had, it sounds as though women are usually paid about the same as their male colleagues, which is more than can be said for some of their Western counterparts. My husband teaches at a private school of English for professionals, and at least half of his students are women. Thus, there doesn't seem to be any prejudice against women working and going to school, at least in Casablanca. Upon further study, though, there are a number of serious problems. Please note that unless otherwise stated, these observations are restricted to Casablanca; the situation in rural areas is probably quite different.