Algerian Women between French Emancipation and Religious Domination on Marriage and Divorce from 1959 Ordonnance no. 59-274 to the 1984 <em>Code de la Famille</em>

Abstract

The impact of the Code de la famille on Algerian women has been felt for 27 years and criticism of it is based on is supposed adherence to Sharī’ah. This is not an adequate assessment of this legal document or its amendments. It is a more complex issue that involves the attempt of society to re-define its identity as Algerian and Islamic after independence. In attempting to establish Algerian women’s identity there was a shift from fearless independent combatants who moved among men during the struggle for independence to a space for women as strictly wives and mothers within the context of the home. The analysis is based mainly on the Code de la famille as well as the Qur’ān and it demonstrates that is not exclusively based in elements of Sharī’ah but rather a patriarchal framework supplemented by elements that are not truly Islamic.