Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Women's Studies International Forum journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/wsif Dualing discourse: Democracy, gender equity and discursive politics in rural Morocco Deana A. Rohlinger a, ⁎ , Alexandra Olsen b , Lyndi Hewitt c a Department of Sociology, Florida State University, 636 West Call Street, 207 Pepper, Tallahassee, FL 32306-1121, United States of America b Department of Sociology, University of California, Irvine, 3151 Social Sciences Plaza, Irvine, CA 92697-5100, United States of America c Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of North Carolina, Asheville, CPO 1930, One University Heights, Asheville, NC 28804, United States of America ARTICLE INFO Keywords: Activism Moroccan women's movement Discursive politics ABSTRACT Feminist scholars have long been interested in the ability of grassroots organizations to meet both the practical and strategic gender needs of women in developing economies. One point of contention is the role of the neoliberalist framework, which prioritizes women's economic participation over the creation of political in- stitutions that foster gender equality, in democratic projects. Drawing on feminist, development, and social movement literatures, we show that neoliberalism interacts with local socio-religious contexts to provide a complicated – and gendered – set of discursive opportunities for grassroots activists. Drawing on a three-month participant observation with “The Association of Women” in Ouarzazate, Morocco, we illustrated how gender constrains the discursive politics of a male and female organizational leader. The male leader regards neoli- beralism as a legitimate challenge to gender inequity, and uses it to highlight the connections between economic opportunity, gender equity, and democracy. The female leader, in contrast, employs neoliberalism and tradi- tional notions about women's roles in Ouarzazate to maintain her relationship with her male colleague, build bridges between her and women in the community, and to create a space where women can cultivate their gender consciousness. We conclude with a discussion of the promises and pitfalls of discursive politics and argue that scholars need to give the discursive politics within local organizations more empirical attention, particularly if they are concerned with the strategic gender needs of women. “Women and democracy are good for one another. We need different perspectives if we are to solve the most trying issues of our time.” Interview with a Moroccan activist 1. Introduction Activist groups typically operate in institutional and socio-political contexts over which they have little control. These contexts affect the range of strategic choices available to organizations as well as the tradeoffs they are likely to make as they work to forward their goals (Rohlinger, 2015). This is no less true for activist organizations working in developing economies, which face the additional challenge of pitching their initiatives to transnational, non-governmental organiza- tions for much needed funding. Given the large number of local activist groups seeking funding, and the relatively small pot of funds, it is not surprising that organizations pitch projects that promise economic advancements over those that target individual empowerment or cul- tural change (Bob, 2005; Ennaji, 2008; McEwan, 2001). 1 While sensitive to local activist organizations' desires to survive a tough funding environment, feminist scholars analyze the role of power in initiatives and in our understanding of women's roles in development more generally (Benería & Sen, 1982; Braun, 2011; Desai, 2007). For example, feminist scholars are interested in initiatives that meet both the practical and strategic gender needs of women (Bosserup, 1970; McEwan, 2001; Molyneaux, 1985). Initiatives that meet the practical gender needs of women are those that enable the survival of women in the existing power structure, initiatives that meet the strategic gender needs of women are those that empower women and ultimately make a society more democratic and equitable (Baden & Reeves, 2000). In- itiatives can meet both the practical and strategic gender needs of women. However, the latter is often downplayed in favor of the former. This is largely a result of two interrelated factors. First, development https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wsif.2020.102373 Received 16 October 2019; Received in revised form 28 April 2020; Accepted 28 April 2020 ⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: deana.rohlinger@fsu.edu (D.A. Rohlinger), agolsen@uci.edu (A. Olsen). 1 This point cannot be overstated given that most funders require groups to demonstrate a “return on their investment.” Women's Studies International Forum 81 (2020) 102373 0277-5395/ © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. T