by Wenqin Zhang
This article is part of the Gender, Sexuality, and Decolonization Resource Page blog.
In recent years, the hijab has sparked intense debates, ranging from protests against its forced imposition in Iran to the European Court of Justice’s decision on partially restricting its use in some workplaces. For some, the hijab represents patriarchy and oppression, for others it represents identity and self-expression. However, the challenge of reconciling gender equality with cultural identity is not a new phenomenon. During the Algerian revolution, the veil symbolized both the coloniser’s modernization project and gender segregation under the patriarchal order. It remains a relevant reflection of the current ongoing debate.
Considered “one of the most powerful outward indicators of identity and social status” by scholars, the agency of dress is particularly pertinent in discussions of westernization and tradition, secularism and religion in the anti-colonial context.[1] In France, sartorial orientalism was used to highlight the progress of French colonial expansion: since the expedition of Algiers, adapted burnous[2] began to appear at famous fashion shops in Paris and colonial troops in Algerian uniforms were presented in metropolitan France to show France’s conquest and power over the colonies.[3] On the other hand, European clothes were promoted in Algeria as a path to assimilation and an indicator of local acceptance of French rule. Algerian Jews’ widespread adoption of French dress resulted in a more favorable legal status, as they were perceived to be more willing to Europeanize than Algerian Muslims.[4] The power imbalance between men and women is also reflected in dress. The veil separates women from public space: to present in the men’s world (public space), women have to stay invisible by wearing the veil.[5] When the dress code is tied to other socioeconomic rights such as employment, education, and market access, gender segregation may be further reinforced.[6]
The veil’s symbolic meaning for the nationalist movement was closely linked to France’s control of Islam in the colony. The confrontation and resistance from Muslims in North Africa shaped France’s perception of Islam as a potential threat to the colonial order. The claim of Islam to govern all aspects of public and private life was also incompatible with French rule. To stabilize colonial control, the French administrator confiscated Islamic religious property from 1830, controlled the administration of all mosques, and established religious governing bodies.[7] In response, organized activities of Algerian Islamic reformism started in 1931 to seek the independence of the Muslim Creed and the restoration of the ethic of original Islam.[8] The religious practice of Salafiyah was promoted, instead of the practice of the Sufi sects, whose religious leaders supported the French colonial administration. In addition, the reformists sought to address “the spread of alcoholism, drugs, and prostitution, all problems that resulted from the impoverishment of the colonized society” and “to limit the influence of French culture on the lifestyles of young French-educated Algerian males, which they perceived as an assault on the cultural integrity of Algerian society”.[9] The ideas of Islamic reformism had a significant impact on Algerian national ideology and its transition from assimilation to nationhood.[10]
The modernized image of unveiled Algerian women is an idealized construct used by the French to form their propagated narrative and legitimize their colonial rule. There was no significant improvement in Algerian women’s status during the nearly 120 years of French colonial rule prior to the War of Independence. By 1954 the literacy rate among Algerian women was 4.5%, and few were employed.[11] Despite pressure from the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, the French controller did not grant Algerian women the right to vote in the 1940s.[12] It was after the war broke out that the French stepped up the emancipation campaign for Algerian women. The newly independent former French colonies of Tunisia and Morocco witnessed significant advancements in women's rights, and France was put under pressure by the UN anti-colonial block. Concurrently, the competition from the nationalist groups, who portrayed modern-looking female fighters from the National Liberation Front (FLN), the principal nationalist movement during the Algerian War of Independence, in international propaganda, heightened the urgency for the French controllers to show France was the best suited to lead Algeria into the modern era.[13]
More importantly, the French administration wished to win over Algerian women by improving their status. As women were seen as the symbol of tradition and national identity of Algeria, their support could derail the independence movement.[14] Because of the performative motives of the emancipation campaign, great efforts were drawn to the appearance of women. The planned unveiling event on May 13, 1958 exemplifies the performative nature of the emancipation campaign: surrounded by photographers and protected by armed French soldiers, a group of Algerian women took off their veils and burnt them in the heart of Algiers.[15]
Using the rhetoric of modernization to rescue Algerian women, the French emancipation campaign created an anti-westernization sentiment in Algeria. For French feminists, Muslim women’s inferior status was rooted in Islam and the most efficient way to achieve gender equality was through westernization.[16] This understanding was closely related to the portrayal of Algerian women as uncultured, passive victims of the traditional patriarchal order by the popular female writers of the time.[17] Because France’s cultural superiority is built on the degradation of the culture and values of the colonized, modernization measures are easily perceived as invasive. Some Algerians saw reforms in the domains of marriage, family law and education as moral interference of the French and an attack on Algerian culture.[18] To resist cultural violation by the colonial power, they grew more attached to religious and family values.
Once the western discourse on modernization and women’s rights was linked with colonialism, the FLN was put into a position “where they could not agree with the advancement of women’s rights without being seen as accepting the reforms of the colonial state, their enemy, as a positive change”.[19] Algerian women had also been placed in a position where they can only choose between feminism and independence. A few Algerian women, such as Algerian author Djamila Debeche, supported western-style feminism, but they were called anti-nationalists and their voices only reached the urban upper class.[20]
By saving “humiliated, sequestered, cloistered” Algerian women from Algerian men, the colonizer constructed the colonized as powerless, both non-white and feminine, thus making them dependent.[21] The article Algeria Unveiled by Fanon[22] illustrates how the French cornered the Algerian men into defeat by interfering with the control of women: when European bosses invited the “Algerian employee and his wife” to a social occasion at the firm, they were forcing Algerian man to make painful decisions – either bringing his wife, “exhibiting her”, “admitting defeat”, or going alone, risking losing his job because he refuses to “give satisfaction to the boss”.[23] The attack on Algerian men’s masculinity made Algerian men more concerned with their control over women. Fanon argues, to reclaim strength, Algerian men sought to reclaim dominance over women.
Although the colonizers and Algerian men had a significant impact on women’s status in Algeria, Algerian women’s agency in the anti-colonial movement is undeniable. During the first stage of the independence movement, women wore the veil as a form of resistance to France’s attempt to unveil them. Algerian women used the effect of the veil to exert their political agency since – as Fanon put it - the “woman who sees without being seen frustrates the colonizer”.[24] Later, as part of the combat strategy, female fighters removed their veils and “moved like a fish in the western waters”, carrying revolvers, grenades, false identity cards and bombs.[25] After everyone, veiled or unveiled, was suspected of terrorist activities, Algerian women again put on the veil and hid weapons under it. This time, the veil generated an effect of deterrence, which “seems always to escape – to be elsewhere and inaccessible to colonial detection and therefore produces terror in the dominant order”.[26] By removing and resuming the veil, Algerian women manipulated the fetishism of the colonizer and transformed the veil into “a technique of camouflage” and “a means of struggle”.[27]
However, due to the consolidated patriarchal order during the armed struggle, Algerian women’s participation in the independence movement did not result in drastic improvement in gender equality after the war.[28] Female revolutionaries saw FLN’s view on feminism as part of “the ideological struggle between the colonial government and the nationalist movement”, and thought that the more pressing issue was not women’s rights but ending the war.[29] They also believed, as FLN claimed, that women’s situation would automatically improve after independence.[30] Some women remained silent because they feared that questioning women’s rights would lead to accusations of betrayal of the independence movement or it would be used by France against the revolution.[31]
Despite women’s participation in the independence movement, society’s expectations of them did not change drastically and part of Fanon’s vision also reinforced a conservative view that continues to shape the debate. Even though Fanon hailed the Algerian woman’s act of unveiling herself for the cause of independence as “relearning her body” and “re-established it in a totally revolutionary fashion”, in some of his descriptions, not wearing the veil appears to be a sacrifice for Algerian women: “without the veil, she has an impression of her body being cut up into bits…She experiences a sense of incompleteness with great intensity”.[32] The unveiling is also perceived as a sacrifice by the woman’s family: when the father was told that her daughter was unveiled, “he would naturally hesitate to believe such allegations”, but after learning it’s for the independence movement, “the old fear of dishonour was swept away” by a new fear of the girl’s death or torture in the war.[33] The passive perception of unveiling as a sacrifice rather than women’s autonomous choice is problematic. Furthermore, such behavior is only justified in the name of national liberation. It implies that women’s agency can only be allowed and recognized when it is out of the interest of the community.
During the armed struggle, women’s contributions were not legitimized beyond the completion of the traditional gender division of labor. The FLN encouraged women to support the struggle through “patriotic motherhood” – being good wives and mothers and teaching their children about traditional values.[34] Female fighters in the military were often assigned “women’s work”, such as hiding food, nursing soldiers, cooking and washing.[35] Female fighters also faced discrimination within the independence movement. Members of the FLN were suspicious of women’s “sexual vulnerability” and feared that they would be seduced by French men while sending European-looking women to spy on French soldiers.[36] Female combatants interviewed after the war reported having difficulties reintegrating into society. Even though their patriotism and courage were admired by society, female combatants were seen as unmarriable since “they had frequented men” and some of them were rejected by civilian society.[37]
Conclusion
The preceding discussion on both sides of the Algerian War of Independence demonstrates the precarious position of feminism in an anti-colonialist context. Everything the colonizer advocates can easily become the target of the nationalists, especially if the advocated object is intended to serve colonial rule. France’s strong control over Islam constructed Islam culture as the national identity of Algeria for the nationalists. The emancipation rhetoric, which aimed to legitimize French colonial rule by degrading Algerian civilization and masculinity, made Algerian men more attached to traditional values and their control over women. These factors linked women’s status to the ideology of colonialism and nationalism, forcing Algerian women to choose between feminism and independence.
Women’s rights and the pursuit of state independence can coexist harmoniously. Likewise, the choice regarding the hijab in contemporary society does not inherently clash with women’s rights. In the context of the Algerian revolution, both the French and Algerian ideals placed Algerian women in a challenging position, forcing them to make difficult choices and endure the consequences of their decision. Today, we have the opportunity to create a more empowering environment that allows women to make choices free from excessive pressure, judgmental attitudes, and imposed negative consequences. By striving for such an environment, we can foster greater individual autonomy and ensure that women’s choices are respected and supported.
Wenqin Zhang is a master’s student in Global Health. She is currently working as an intern at the representation office of UNFPA in Geneva and at the same time, finishing her master's thesis on gender-based violence in humanitarian settings. Her fields of interest are gender, sexual and reproductive health and rights, migration and humanitarian actions.
[1] Thoral, Marie-Cecile. ‘Sartorial Orientalism: Cross-Cultural Dressing in Colonial Algeria and Metropolitan France in the Nineteenth Century’. European History Quarterly 45, no. 1 (January 2015): 57–82. https://doi.org/10.1177/0265691414556060.
[2] Traditional woollen hooded long coats worn by Algerian Muslims
[3] Thoral, Marie-Cecile. ‘Sartorial Orientalism: Cross-Cultural Dressing in Colonial Algeria and Metropolitan France in the Nineteenth Century’. European History Quarterly 45, no. 1 (January 2015): 57–82. https://doi.org/10.1177/0265691414556060.
[4] Ibid.
[5] Ibid.
[6] Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. ‘Hijab in Iran: From Religious to Political Symbol’. Accessed 5 December 2022. https://carnegieendowment.org/sada/88152.
[7] Sereni, Jean-Pierre. ‘Algérie : l’islam sous administration coloniale’. Orient XXI, 27 November 2013. https://orientxxi.info/lu-vu-entendu/algerie-l-islam-sous-administration-coloniale,0432
[8] ElTayeb, Salah ElDin ElZein. ‘The ‘Ulama and Islamic Renaissance in Algeria’. American Journal of Islam and Society 6, no. 2 (1 December 1989): 257–88. https://doi.org/10.35632/ajis.v6i2.2825.
[9] Lazreg, Marnia. ‘Gender and Politics in Algeria: Unraveling the Religious Paradigm’. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 15, no. 4 (July 1990): 755–80. https://doi.org/10.1086/494627.
[10] ElTayeb, Salah ElDin ElZein. ‘The ‘Ulama and Islamic Renaissance in Algeria’. American Journal of Islam and Society 6, no. 2 (1 December 1989): 257–88. https://doi.org/10.35632/ajis.v6i2.2825.
[11] Amrane, Djamila, and Farida Abu-Haidar. ‘Women and Politics in Algeria from the War of Independence to Our Day’. Research in African Literatures 30, no. 3 (1999): 62–77. https://doi.org/10.1353/ral.1999.0003.
[12] Perego, Elizabeth. ‘The Veil or a Brother’s Life: French Manipulations of Muslim Women’s Images during the Algerian War, 1954–62’. The Journal of North African Studies 20, no. 3 (27 May 2015): 349–73. https://doi.org/10.1080/13629387.2015.1013942.
[13] Perego, Elizabeth. ‘The Veil or a Brother’s Life: French Manipulations of Muslim Women’s Images during the Algerian War, 1954–62’. The Journal of North African Studies 20, no. 3 (27 May 2015): 349–73. https://doi.org/10.1080/13629387.2015.1013942.
[14] Leonhardt, Adrienne. ‘Between Two Jailers: Women’s Experience During Colonialism, War, and Independence in Algeria’. Anthos 5, no. 1 (2013): 43–54. https://doi.org/10.15760/anthos.2013.43.
[15] Sereni, Jean-Pierre. ‘Le dévoilement des femmes musulmanes en Algérie - Un fantasme colonial’. Orient XXI, 13 September 2016. https://orientxxi.info/lu-vu-entendu/le-devoilement-des-femmes-musulmanes-en-algerie,1466.
[16] Kimble, Sara L. ‘Emancipation through Secularization: French Feminist Views of Muslim Women’s Condition in Interwar Algeria’. French Colonial History 7, no. 1 (2006): 109–28. https://doi.org/10.1353/fch.2006.0006.
[17] Ibid
[18] Leonhardt, Adrienne. ‘Between Two Jailers: Women’s Experience During Colonialism, War, and Independence in Algeria’. Anthos 5, no. 1 (2013): 43–54. https://doi.org/10.15760/anthos.2013.43.
[19] Ibid.
[20] Ibid.
[21] Decker, Jeffrey Louis. ‘Terrorism (Un) Veiled: Frantz Fanon and the Women of Algiers’. Cultural Critique, no. 17 (1990): 177. https://doi.org/10.2307/1354144; Fanon, Frantz . ‘Algeria Unveiled’. Decolonization, 24 February 2004, 60–73. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203485521-9.
[22] Franchophone Afro-Caribbean psychiatrist and political philosopher. Fanon was one of the most important writers in black Atlantic theory in an age of anti-colonial liberation struggle. Two of his key works are Black skin, white masks and The wretched of the earth.
[23] Fanon, Frantz . ‘Algeria Unveiled’. Decolonization, 24 February 2004, 60–73. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203485521-9.
[24] Ibid.
[25] Ibid.
[26] Decker, Jeffrey Louis. ‘Terrorism (Un) Veiled: Frantz Fanon and the Women of Algiers’. Cultural Critique, no. 17 (1990): 177. https://doi.org/10.2307/1354144.
[27] Fanon, Frantz . ‘Algeria Unveiled’. Decolonization, 24 February 2004, 60–73. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203485521-9.
[28] For a short time, there were some gains for women’s rights, but the trend reversed later on, particularly after the 1984 Family Code.
[29] Lazreg, Marnia. ‘Gender and Politics in Algeria: Unraveling the Religious Paradigm’. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 15, no. 4 (July 1990): 755–80. https://doi.org/10.1086/494627.
[30] Ibid.
[31] Leonhardt, Adrienne. ‘Between Two Jailers: Women’s Experience During Colonialism, War, and Independence in Algeria’. Anthos 5, no. 1 (2013): 43–54. https://doi.org/10.15760/anthos.2013.43.
[32] Fanon, Frantz . ‘Algeria Unveiled’. Decolonization, 24 February 2004, 60–73. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203485521-9.
[33] Ibid.
[34] Leonhardt, Adrienne. ‘Between Two Jailers: Women’s Experience During Colonialism, War, and Independence in Algeria’. Anthos 5, no. 1 (2013): 43–54. https://doi.org/10.15760/anthos.2013.43.
[35] White, Aaronette M. ‘All the Men Are Fighting for Freedom, All the Women Are Mourning Their Men, but Some of Us Carried Guns: A Raced‐Gendered Analysis of Fanon’s Psychological Perspectives on War’. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 32, no. 4 (June 2007): 857–84. https://doi.org/10.1086/513021.
[36] Vince, Natalya. ‘Transgressing Boundaries: Gender, Race, Religion, and “Françaises Musulmanes” during the Algerian War of Independence’. French Historical Studies 33, no. 3 (1 August 2010): 445–74. https://doi.org/10.1215/00161071-2010-005.
[37] Turshen, Meredeth. ‘Algerian Women in the Liberation Struggle and the Civil War: From Active Participants to Passive Victims?’ Social Research 69, no. 3 (2002): 889–911. https://www.jstor.org/stable/40971577.