Conclusion

Postcolonial Moroccan women’s agency has been the main focus of this monograph, which set out to examine how this notion relates to the women writers under study and their characters. These writers can be described as the agent Eves referred to in the title, beginning with Mernissi, the mother of Moroccan feminism. The monograph addresses those pioneering women writers’ depiction of agency and explores their role in marking the postcolonial transformations that impact women’s lives and status in society. It starts with the pre-colonial way of life depicted within Mernissi’s Dreams of Trespass . Mernissi’s memoir illuminated the life of her female relatives inside a traditional extended household which she calls a harem. It is a harem that was inhabited by progressive women whose collective child-rearing resulted in shaping the identity of the scholar, Fatima Mernissi. Then, the study proceeds to determine the postcolonial features that have accompanied women’s evolution in the post-independence period with Abouzeid’s The Last Chapter . Abouzeid’s narrative traces a modern woman’s agency in pursuing her life goals, scrutinizing the colonial legacies and the drawbacks that mark the postcolonial times with regard to women’s status in society. With Lalami and El Hachmi, much focus has been laid on contemporary women’s agency in challenging the patriarchal and cultural norms that restrict their life choices inside the boundaries of their country and even in a Western context. The monograph, which illustrates the progression in women’s agency from the precolonial period to the post-Arab Spring era, ends by focussing on Aisha Ech-Channa’s works that unveil narratives of a marginalized group of women in modern Morocco, that of single mothers. In Ech-Channa’s narratives single mothers find their path to healing, independence, and social security thanks to the activist Ech-Channa’s help and support. Ech-Channa displays through her literary works and social activism a basic denunciation of social injustice and a fierce defense of the disempowered, uneducated, and unemployed women. The study of these literary works, which are written by women about women’s lives from birth to adulthood, has provided a deeper insight into women’s life experiences and shed light on the mostly invisible struggles they go through to lead a happy and useful life. Indeed, the study has provided an in-depth insight into women’s lives with reference to their social classes, educational backgrounds, financial independence, as well as individual and sexual freedoms. The study aims to contribute to the current debates on women’s rights, lives, achievements, and relationships. Moreover, it will extend the knowledge around women’s contribution to the changing of stereotypes around women’s lives, sexuality, life choices, and individual freedoms. Hence, the monograph can be of interest to and contribute to any work about postcolonial Moroccan women writers in general.