Obesity and household roles: gender and social class in Morocco

Abstract

Often referred to as the developing world's new burden of disease, obesity constitutes a major and growing health epidemic in Morocco, in particular for women (22% of women versus 8% of men). Through an analysis of qualitative data, I demonstrate how gender roles influence obesity risk in the Moroccan context. Current social and economic theories, including the nutrition transition theory, are inadequate in explaining the persistent gender differentials in health status across time and place. I suggest that Moroccan women's higher prevalence of obesity is predominantly the outcome of different risks acquired from their distinct roles. In the Moroccan context, we can gain insight into how men and women divide household labour and how the overall non-egalitarian nature of social roles may deleteriously affect women's health. I hypothesise that marital status, age and socioeconomic status determine Moroccan women's household roles and help to explain why women are more likely to be obese than men. The main findings support this hypothesis and demonstrate the interactive relationship between culture and structure in influencing obesity risk.

Drivers of dietary behaviours in women living in urban Africa: a systematic mapping review

“…Two studies were set in low-income countries: Burkina Faso (39,40) and Benin (42) . Seven were from lower-middle-income countries; four from Morocco (28,(30)(31)(32)38) , two were Kenyan (33,44) and one Ghanaian (34) . Three studies were situated in South Africa; an upper-middle-income country (29,(35)(36)(37)43) .…”

“…Table 1 presents the characteristics of the twelve included studies. Two were qualitative (28,38) , one used mixed methods (29) and the remaining nine were quantitative (29)(30)(31)(32)(33)(35)(36)(37)(39)(40)(41)(42)(43)(44) . One abstract was included as sufficient data were obtained by an author (31,45) .…”

“…A qualitative study reported a fattening practice undertaken by Moroccan women of the Saharawi culture in preparation for marriage (38) . Another qualitative study found that married women ate diets of lower nutritional value than men (28) . Women reported to snack during food preparation, which the authors used to suggest how household social roles may influence energy intake (28) .…”

“…Six studies looked at the cognitive element of individuallevel factors (28,31,34,39,40,44) . One study found that individual perception of taste was rated as having a 'large influence' as opposed to a 'small influence' or 'no influence' on food choice by 75 % of participants (29) .…”

“…2). Components of dietary behaviour included meal content (28) , food consumption (30)(31)(32)(33)43) , micro/macronutrient intake (33,(35)(36)(37)44) , dietary diversity (31,32,40) , diet quality (28,41,42) food choice (29) , eating patterns (34,40) , adequacy of food intake (44) and diet practices (38) (see online supplementary material, Supplemental Tables 3-6). …”