Morocco: new mosques must give women 30% of prayer space

Morocco's Ministry of Endowments and Islamic Affairs now requires every new mosque construction project in the country to reserve at least 30% of the total prayer space for women's prayer halls, up from a current national average of no more than 20%, according to an official report annexed to the draft 2027 Finance Bill.

New architectural requirements for every mosque

The report states that when the women's prayer hall is located on an upper floor or mezzanine, the project must provide a ground-floor prayer space for women with disabilities, rather than confining them to the upper floor alone. The project must also provide ablution facilities and restrooms reserved for women, including at least one accessible to women with disabilities. The measure comes as women's prayer halls in many existing Moroccan mosques have suffered from cramped space and poor accessibility compared with the space reserved for men.

Women's presence in the endowments sector, by the numbers

The requirement appears in the "gender report" that the Moroccan government annexes each year to the Finance Bill, tracking the performance of government departments on gender equality. For the endowments portfolio, the report lists several indicators for 2025:

• The rate of meeting women's prayer-hall needs reached 27.6% in 2025, according to a gender-sensitive performance indicator.
• Girls made up 30% of students enrolled in traditional Islamic education and at Al Quaraouiyine University in the 2025-2026 school year.
• Women made up 16.57% of teaching staff, 12.1% of supervisory staff and 44.6% of administrative staff in traditional education.
• The share of women benefiting from the ministry's training programmes reached 36% in 2025.
• The ministry deployed about 244 female supervisors and chaperones for Moroccan women pilgrims during the 2026 Hajj season, or 43.6% of all supervisors that year.

The report does not give a specific date for the 30% requirement to take effect, nor does it say whether it also applies to expansion or renovation projects at existing mosques, or is limited to new construction. The decision is part of a broader push to mainstream gender considerations across the ministry's programmes, amid ongoing public debate in Morocco over the quality of religious and public spaces set aside for women.