Women in the Algerian Revolution - pt. 2

Note: This is a study aid for my class on Islam.

How did women's participation in the decolonization effort impact their lives and gender relations?

According to Lazreg, more was asked of women than of men during the war because of ideas expressed by F.L.N literature. Lazreg contends that this same literature saw women's suffering as an inevitability. She also contends that the F.L.N. literature was ambivalent on the subject of women. Women bore the brunt of the war: one in five participating Algerian women died or were imprisoned. Women were subject to torture and rape.

Women were able to run all-female groups in charge of sanctuaries and supplies, but they were nearly absent from administrative positions in the country. With very few exceptions, women's participation in the movement fit a "traditional" pattern: men held positions of responsibility while women executed orders. On the other hand, women were able to sign their own marriage contracts and the F.L.N made sure that they actually wanted the marriage.

Men like Fanon (the first person to write on women's participation in the decolonization effort) viewed the participation of women in the war as a "complication." He contended that women's "cloistered" lives made them "less at ease" moving through city streets, and also asserted that it endangered their lives. Fanon's emphasis on what he saw as women's conflict with their body changed their participation in the war into a struggle over the veil.