Mule Women of Morocco : A Sorrowful Story of Survival
One of the toughest jobs in the world is working as a mule woman in the Morocco. These women used to carry a huge amount of load between Spain and Morocco to avoid the tax. The merchants who employ these women mules hardly make 3 to 5 %. If the jobless women of Morocco do this physically demanding job, they will earn 10 to 15 Euros in a day. To earn this meagre sum, these women carry heavy bales of goods from the Spanish enclave of Melilla and Morocco.
According to the study conducted by the American Chamber of Commerce in Morocco a whopping $1.4 billion worth of goods carried across the border of “El Barrio Chino” by the women each year. And this is the only hope for the single mother, widows and jobless divorced women of this region opt for this burdensome job.
The primary reason is that Melilla and Ceuta are not included in the European customs territory, and can import goods at lower tariffs than the rest of the EU. The goods that arrive in the port of Melilla are virtually tax-free. They can bring into Morocco informally, bypassing any official trade or tax regulations as per the existing trade agreement. And these luggage carried by the women is classified as ‘personal luggage.’ And there is no tax applicable for these goods. So, the merchants are smartly exploiting this treaty to smuggle the goods through these mule women. As per the latest estimate, there are nearly 15000 women are actively doing this job.
By
Srini
Instanewsgram