Gender Oppression in Algeria:

Before we begin our discussion on gender relations in Algeria, we will review a brief historical context of the country. Algeria's history is extensive, with remnants of hominid occupation in the region dating back to 200,000 B.C. The first traces of organized civilization appeared nearly eight thousand years ago with the Neolithic occupation of the Maghreb Region (modern day North Africa), and by 2000 B.C. inhabitants organized into a distinct native population called the Berbers. Over the next two thousand years, the area remained largely agricultural and various Berber kingdoms rose and fell from power. However, in 24 AD. the Roman Empire annexed the area, incited mass conversions to Christianity, and turned Algeria into the "granary of the empire" with a heavy emphasis on agricultural production. In subsequent centuries the area was predominately ruled by the Romans, with frequent conflicts against the Berbers over ruling power. However, this dynamic was disrupted in 642 AD when Arabs began military expeditions into the Maghreb region. The Arab army quickly conquered the Roman Empire's hold, and by 711 AD the Arabs established a dominant Muslim presence in the area. For the next thousand years, power traded hands between Arab rulers, the most significant being the Ottoman Empire occupation of Algeria in the 16th and 17th century. In fact, starting in 1518 and ending in 1710 with a regression of Ottoman influence, Algiers was the center of Ottoman authority in the Maghreb and Turkish was the official language. However, it is important to note that a Berber population remained a significant, distinct population in Algeria throughout this time, and even today approximately one quarter of the country's population is Berber.

The next major change in Algerian social structure came with the rise of European maritime powers in the 19th century. During this time, rulers of North African states exacted tributes on European countries in return for not allowing pirates to attack their ships. However, in 1827 there was a misunderstanding between the French consul and the current Dey of Algiers, Algiers' commander. This argument led to a three-year French military blockade of Algiers, which progressed into a military expedition in 1830, and in 1848 nearly all of modern-day Algeria was under French control and France's Second Republic declared the area one of their colonies. The colonial era in Algeria lasted from more than a century, and during this time Algerian government and wealth was controlled by French colonists, also known as "colons" or "pieds noirs." Under French colonization, Algerians were confronted with discriminatory laws and gender prejudices that limited their social mobility. Thus, beginning in the 1940s revolutionary groups began to organize against French control. Groups such as the Étoile Nord-Africaine, the Mouvement National Algérien, and the Front de Libération Nationale (FLN) formed and either tried to negotiate with the French or launched militant attacks against them. These movements progressively gained momentum, and on November 1st, 1954, the FLN officially began the Algerian War for Independence with a series of high-scale attacks against French citizens across the country.

The Algerian War of Independence lasted from 1954 to 1962 and was mainly fought between the French army and the FLN. By 1956, France committed more than 400,000 troops to the effort to oppose the FLN's 40,000 militants. The war revolved mainly around guerrilla warfare tactics in both rural and urban areas, and with its impressive advantage in numbers, in 1959 France had largely gained military control in the country. However, domestic and international opposition to the conflict and French colonization of Algeria created a political crisis in France. This unrest led to the fall of the Fourth Republic and the 1958 decision by French President Charles de Gaulle to allow "self-determination" in Algeria. The pieds-noir vehemently opposed this decision. In fact, in December, 1960 and April, 1961 colons led by French General Putsch staged a military insurrection in Algiers to pressure De Gaulle to not abandon French control in Algeria. Nevertheless, in the summer of 1961 De Gaulle began talks with the FLN, and in the summer of 1962 the French and Algerian electorate approved the Evian Accords and officially established Algerian independence on July 1st, 1962. Algeria has remained an independent nation ever since. Of course, the country has had its fair share of upheaval, with a coup in 1965 that led to a military body ruling from 1965 to 1978, as well as a major civil war breaking out between Islamic rebel groups and the government between 1991 and 2002. Some of this conflict has resolved, and today Algeria is a multiparty republic with a President as head of state and a Prime Minister as a head of government who are elected by the people every five years. However, corruption is still widespread, and in 2022 Algeria's economic country rating was a D for a "high-risk political and economic situation," and Algeria only scored a 46.2 out of 100 on the Heritage Foundation's Index of Economic Freedom. Algeria is technically a free country, yet there is still much work to be done to achieve full democratic rule and economic autonomy in the region.