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Refusing to Melt in Their World
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13953 |
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Section : |
CULTURE
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| Issue
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2 / 1988 |
5,028 Words |
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Aida Bamia
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In the life cycle of an Algerian woman, traditional beliefs and practices play a special role. Used to affirm family authority in childhood and adolescence, traditions often serve as instruments of repression and discrimination and become cards played in conflicts between the generations and the sexes. In adulthood, former victims manipulate those same traditions to assert their own will, revenging themselves upon an oppressive society. Consequently, in a contemporary Algeria torn between the demands of traditional life and the lures of modernity, traditions have a somewhat ambiguous role and character.
Algeria gained independence from France in 1962. Many women, such as Hasiba ben Bouali and Djamila Boubacha, gave their lives in this struggle. Women entrusted with secret missions proved invaluable to the male freedom fighters who were willing during those extreme times to disregard many traditional practices that they fully expected to reimpose later. The men certainly did not anticipate any difficulty in restoring preindependence domestic conditions and sexual roles.
But after generations of repression, women had finally escaped the constant surveillance and control of the male members of their families. They had found a freedom that they would not willingly relinquish. They were determined to work with men side by side in building an independent new Algeria. As a result, women's conduct became amazingly daring and quite shocking to traditional Algerian society.
Tradition and male resistance inhibit women's emancipation
Traditionally, the Algerian man referred to the woman as the "household," or if he made a personal reference concerning his own wife, for example, he used the expression "with all due respect to you" as a tacit apology for mentioning the word "woman" out loud. Women had few rights and were completely subordinate to male control. Men were unable and unwilling to accept women as equals. But having played their part in the fight to gain freedom from the French, women became equally obstinate in their quest for equality. Faced with both resistance from a traditional society and aggressive and abusive male behavior, women adopted a defiant attitude, determined to win this battle as well.
As custom dictated, women left the house only to go to the hamman (Turkish public bath), to attend weddings or funerals, or to take part in other ceremonies--always secluded from men. Even orchestras for such ceremonies were composed only of women. And although modern Algerian society is otherwise mixed, this tradition still persists.
After 1962, in the early years of independence, the mere sight of a woman in the street--walking to her school or work--was cause for provocation to a man. Any man. Stories of inexplicable and unprovoked beatings of women by unknown men are remembered to this day--though now told with bittersweet smiles. When women complained about this mistreatment men typically replied: "If you had stayed home, nothing would have happened to you!"
Women knew that this aggressive male behavior was an attempt to stop the trend toward female emancipation before it went too far. But women were determined to gain their rights. The abuse even strengthened many women's resolve. "I used to go home and cry my heart
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