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Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | Feminism and Muslim Fundamentalism: The Tunisian and Algerian Cases |
Author: | Baffoun, Alya |
Year: | 1994 |
Periodical: | Africa Development: A Quarterly Journal of CODESRIA (ISSN 0850-3907) |
Volume: | 19 |
Issue: | 2 |
Pages: | 5-20 |
Language: | English |
Geographic terms: | Tunisia Algeria |
Subjects: | Islamic movements women Women's Issues Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups) Religion and Witchcraft Equality and Liberation Cultural Roles Politics and Government |
External link: | https://www.jstor.org/stable/43658335 |
Abstract: | This article analyses Islamic fundamentalism in Algeria and Tunisia and its consequences for women. The revival of Islam is examined in the light of the national system of government, which in both countries is authoritarian and antidemocratic and based on clientelism, the cultural duality of the Tunisian and Algerian elites, who exercise political control over the national State, and the inconclusive policy of 'modernization' and the resulting economic depression with its negative social consequences. The reactivation of religion in both countries in this time of crisis has led to women being deprived of a substantial part of their social rights. However, there are also differences in the situation of women in both countries. In Tunisia, fundamentalist Islam is officially forbidden. A modernistic vision of Islam is expressed in Tunisian legislation (e.g. the Personal Status Code of 1956, the government's birth control policy), which is to some extent favourable to women. Women also play a role in the labour market, contrary to the situation in Algeria, where women have been expelled from the political, social and economic milieu since independence and where the victory of fundamentalist Islam has exacerbated women's inequality. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. in French. |