Laila Lalami and Najat El Hachmi

This chapter examines Laila Lalami’s Secret Son and Najat El Hachmi ’s The Last Patriarch as narratives of Moroccan women’s migration and resistance to patriarchal authority in diasporic contexts. Both authors, writing from Western perspectives (in English and Catalan), foreground female agency by exposing the constraints of familial and cultural patriarchy, even in ostensibly liberating Western environments. Their works center on migrant women who defy patriarchal norms, reclaim autonomy over their bodies and sexuality, and navigate fractured identities amid transnational displacement. Unlike earlier Moroccan feminists like Mernissi and Abouzeid, Lalami and El Hachmi depict a postcolonial generation that confronts patriarchy beyond Morocco’s borders, challenging fathers and husbands whose authority persists in diaspora. The female protagonists, Amal in Secret Son and the unnamed narrator in The Last Patriarch , reject submission to familial and cultural codes, embracing instead the freedoms of education, economic independence, and sexual self-determination in their host countries. Their stories highlight the paradox of migration: while men often experience dislocation and patriarchal collapse, women seize agency through rebellion, self-reinvention, and critical engagement with Western liberalism. The novels scrutinize themes of kinship, morality, and double standards, particularly in how patriarchal control extends to women’s sexuality and mobility. El Hachmi’s protagonist dismantles her father’s hypocritical moral authority, while Lalami’s characters, Amal and the marginalized single mother Rachida, expose class and gender inequalities in both Morocco and the diaspora. By documenting taboo subjects like extramarital sex and female desire, these works disrupt traditional narratives of Muslim womanhood. They frame migration as a site of gendered struggle, where women negotiate old patriarchies and new freedoms, often at the cost of familial estrangement. Ultimately, Lalami and El Hachmi portray diasporic women as active agents who redefine belonging, identity, and resistance in a globalized world.