The Algerian Woman Issue: Struggles, Islamic Violence, and Co-optation

Abstract

This chapter examines the Algerian women’s movement within a holistic and global approach to the process of political transformation and state-building, wherein the woman question is systematically manipulated to ultimately consolidate the legitimacy of the Islamo-conservative rule dominated by the military, to the detriment of accountability before the law and wide democratic participation in the management of politics. The chapter examines the relationship between Islam as a state religion and domestic violence against women, and it considers the manifold resistance of women against this Islamic violence during the post-colonial period. Feminist activists have used the political opening of autocratic rule to set up NGOs and employ political activism to wage struggles against gender discrimination.