Pre-Colonial Algeria:

The groundwork for Algeria's future gender relations

"Although [the Algerian woman] was not a slave, she was both protected and controlled." - Algerian Historian Alf Andrew Heggoy, 1974

The evolution of the female experience in Algeria is best understood with background knowledge on the origins of gender relations in the country. In the following sections we will explore the very beginnings of gender norms in Algeria.

The Arrival of Islam

A map of the countries located in the Maghreb region today.

The period in pre-colonial Algeria most relevant to our discussion begins with the arrival of Muslim Arabs in the 7th century. The Arab invasion of North Africa in 642 AD marked an important turn in the Maghreb region’s religious identity. Before the invasion, the region was occupied by individuals practicing either Christianity, Judaism, or Berber mythology. However, by 711 AD the majority of the region's population practiced Islam due to the Arabs' widespread conversion efforts. This Islamic influence has only grown with time, and today more than 99% of the Algerian population practices Islam. Algeria's Islamic identity has major impact on the population's way of life, gender relations included. Indeed, Islamic law related to gender has governed the female role in Algeria from the pre-colonial era to the present.

Social Norms

Strict Islamic doctrines made it such that the separation of sexes was nearly complete in pre-colonial Algeria, with women existing mainly in the private life and men dominating the public sphere. These domains, themselves, were also very separate; the typical home only had one exterior door, high walls, a private courtyard, and only one exit gate to ensure separation from the rest of the town. There was even division of men and women within the home with the presence of a "harem," or an area in the house that was reserved exclusively for females. Such division decided daily tasks for each gender; women were expected to stay in the private, protected realm of the home while men were allowed to leave to go to work, meet friends in cafés, and attend to political matters. An exception of this exclusion was that women were generally the ones to go to the market for the family, but even then they were not allowed to go alone and had to attend with either other women the family or female neighbors. That being said, gender relations did vary between region and social class. For example, polygamy was only practiced by those of high socioeconomic status, affluent women were literate and trained to play musical instruments, and in the South the female body was made more visible with poems that celebrated women for their beauty and service as "healers" for love sick men. However, this praise was based on appearance, not ability, and no matter the region women were were given very little opportunity to leave the home or engage in political or economic activities. This exclusion was exacerbated by the fact that women received very little schooling in comparison to men; women generally only attended school with boys until the age of nine, and many were never sent to school and instead were tutored at home. Thus, beginning at a young age women were guided into a life in the home as men were prepared for lives in the public sphere

A staged photo of Muslim women in the harem.

Women walking together to run errands in the town center.

Familial Roles

Not only were genders separated between the public and private sphere, but gender division also existed within the family. To begin, women were passed from family to family through marriage while men stayed with their birth family throughout, thus pushing women to cut most ties with her previous family upon her wedding day. The male leader of the woman's family was responsible for choosing who and when a woman would marry; she had no say in the process. The transition from daughter to wife did not increase the female's power within her family. Instead, the authoritative figure in her life simply changed from her father/uncle/older brother to her husband. In the case of marital conflict, a husband could choose to divorce at any time; however, women faced many obstacles in the process of getting a divorce. The primary role of females during this time was to produce male offspring. In fact, the main way that women were able to gain respect with their husband's family was to give birth to many sons; daughters were not desired as they eventually left for another family upon marriage and presented the risk of disgracing the family if they were to lose their virginity before marriage. A woman's social circles were defined by those of her father and husband, thus enforcing an idea of women not as independent entities, but instead as an extension of the main male figure in their life.

An 18th century photo of Algerian women with her children

Slivers of Independence

"[It was] women who took charge of the domestic world." - Mohammed Harbi, 1945

Of course, women did hold some power within their. For example, women were trusted with managing family finances, they served as mediators within family discussions, and they played a fundamental role in the raising and education of their children. Women were also key producers; they were charged with making a variety of food products (cakes, preserves, meat, vegetables, etc.), clothes, cosmetics, and bedding for their family. In rural areas women were even known to take part in agricultural tasks like harvests, ploughing, and shepherding. Algerian mothers also had an especially close relationship with their son, who was expected to protect his mother throughout her life and who advocated for his mothers' needs in conversation with his father. What's more, women who had multiple sons were able to establish a positive reputation and increased authority within the household because she was seen to have succeeded in her main job of producing male offspring.

What's more, just as we will see later in the Algerian War for Independence, women rejected certain gender norms and exercised their voice in times of urgency. For example, when French military efforts increased in the 1830s, women left their homes to cheer their husbands on the sidelines of battle and made provisions for the war effort. They were even seen yelling at the French soldiers during confrontations. Yet, despite this familial influence and wartime participation, Algerian women still lived in a community dominated by men. Husbands were awarded the final say on all decisions relating to the family, and none of the aforementioned responsibilities or contributions to the community awarded women economic opportunity or political power outside of the household.

French and Algerian soldiers fighting at the gates of Algiers, 1830

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