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Contributions from
the Column
Focus
Fundamentalists resent migration of women worker
The multiple worlds of Turkish women
Women and Islam in Northern Nigeria
Algeria: “We are very sceptical”
Helping women traumatised by civil strife
03/2005
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“We are deeply
sceptical in Algeria”
Since 1984, Algeria has had an Islamic family code, which considerably disadvantages women. Nadia Ait Zai is a lecturer in family law at Algiers University, a committed campaigner for women’s rights in the Maghreb and founder of the “Centre d’Information et de Documentation sur les Droits de l’Enfant et de la Femme” (CIDDEF) in Algiers. In this interview with D+C/E+Z, she elaborates on the work of her initiative and explains the proposals for reforming Algerian Family Law.
[ Interview with Nadia Ait Zai ]
In Algeria, a growing number of women are serving as mayors, governors and ministers. Do you think that the situation of women is generally improving?
What we need in Algeria, I think, is space for dialogue. Whenever there’s a demonstration, we see evidence of people’s need to express their views. Newspapers are a possible forum but women don’t use them. At public events, seminars and conferences, women certainly do speak up. But they need to do so more audibly so that politicians hear what they have to say.
The women’s and children’s information centre you set up, CIDDEF, is based at Sacré Coeur Cathedral. 99 percent of Algeria’s population is Muslim. Is it not difficult for Muslim women to enter a Christian church? And do you not come under attack for being “westernised”?
No, not at all. The centre is independent; it is part of an Algerian cultural association. We are very grateful to the Bishop of Algiers for making the premises available to us. The Church in Algeria is an Algerian institution; it is not controlled from outside. Those who come to us, who enrol with us, have no problems. Other non-religious groups also use rooms here. Above us, for example, is a room used for rehearsals by a choir. But I would be delighted, of course, if, one day, a mosque were to offer us rooms.
Why did you set up CIDDEF?
We wanted to document the history of the women’s movement – in Algeria, in the Maghreb, in Europe and worldwide. People always take their own culture as a starting point. But I think women’s fight against discrimination is universal and we can learn from one another. Our second focus is on children’s rights. The resources we offer are very important – for those studying at the university, for civil society and for the women’s movement. They provide a scientific backup for political demands. When the feminists called for the family code to be abolished, I think, some organisations did not flesh out their concepts with enough supporting material. That is why we offer more than just books, documents and Internet access. We also all stage seminars and training. We particularly want to reach young women – because we have a generation problem. There are not enough young campaigners in the feminist movement.
Late last year, a bill was presented to bring about a sweeping reform of the extremely conservative system of Islamic family law. It includes proposals to lower the age at which men and women can marry to 19, to allow women to marry without a male guardian, to make it easier for women to get a divorce and to impose further restrictions on polygamy. These plans have drawn howls of protest from Islamists.
Women need to regain full legal status; they must no longer be treated as life-long minors. Women have to be able to sign a marital agreement in the presence of a representative of the state without permission from a guardian. Another key issue is the marital home. Where a divorcing couple have only one home, it is awarded to the husband under the 1984 Act. What we want to see is the marital home awarded to the partner who takes care of the children. We also want fathers to have the option of custody – and to make them accept their responsibilities.
But in most Arab countries, fathers have custody anyway when the children reach a certain age.
That is so in the Middle East but not here. In Algeria, it is nearly always the mother who raises the children. Mothers have custody of daughters until they marry and custody of sons until they are ten years old. But fathers hardly ever insist on taking charge of their sons’ upbringing. If we really want equality, we have to give fathers a chance of custody. In actual fact, however, it is women who provide for the children until they marry – and even beyond that. Because of the 1984 Act, many mothers have to turn to women’s shelters for help or end up on the street with their children.
How about Algeria’s divorce law?
Legal divorce was introduced in Algeria under the French in 1959 and was retained after independence in 1962. That is a good thing because in some Islamic countries a man can still divorce his wife simply by uttering the ritual words of repudiation (“talaq”). The 1984 Family Code, however, drastically restricts a woman’s chances of seeking and obtaining a divorce. A husband can dissolve the marriage at any time without a reason. A wife can secure a divorce on only six precisely defined grounds, and she always shoulders the burden of proof. If a husband does not provide for his wife properly or if he beats her, the wife has to take the matter to court and secure a judgement against the husband. Many women are reluctant to do that. Apart from this, women can only buy their freedom through “khula”. This is an option increasingly used today but it has financial drawbacks. In 1996, we called for khula and talaq to be incorporated into a single modern divorce concept providing equal treatment for husband and wife. Sadly, our efforts were in vain.
Under the present family code, a man is allowed to have as many as four wives. Threatening to marry a second wife may serve as a means of pressure.
Basically, if we really wanted to be modern, polygamy should be outlawed altogether. But when it was reintroduced in 1984, certain conditions were attached. If the first wife objects, she can apply for a divorce. Anyway, polygamy is rarely practised. We know that women today very rarely accept becoming a second or third wife. Whenever they do, the husband is financially so well off that accommodation presents no problem. Having said that, most women choose divorce because they see polygamy as an affront to their dignity. I do not really focus on the issue of polygamy because I know that women are strong enough to say no.
In neighbouring Morocco, feminists from very different camps joined forces in spring 2001. On the one hand, there were those committed to a clear separation of state and religion; on the other, those who feel it is enough to modernise within the framework of Islamic law. The two groups agreed on a common platform and called for reforms within an Islamic context. In Algeria, however, such joint campaigns have not worked out because of fundamental differences. That is because we have a very different history. After independence in 1956, Morocco had an ultra-conservative Islamic family code – known as “Mudawwana” – which did not even recognise legal divorce. In Algeria, Islamic family law was largely secularised by the French colonial power in 1959. After independence in 1962, the French laws were retained and certain aspects of them islamised. In 1975, all laws dating from before 1962 were formally declared null and void. This marked the dawn of an ostensibly “lawless” period but, for all practical purposes, the law introduced in 1959 was retained until the Islamic family code took its place in 1984 – which marked a massive step backwards in many respects. That makes a massive difference. Even secularist Moroccan women acknowledge that the majority of Moroccans accept Muslim principles, whereas we in Algeria are divided into two camps: those who want to abolish Islamic family law altogether and those prepared to accept a reinterpretation of Sharia law.
Since 2003, the “20 years is enough“ campaign (vingt ans barakat) launched by secularist Algerian women has also been demanding reforms within an Islamic framework. By and large however, the women’s movement in Algeria is still very polarised. What is your position?
Basically, I am also in favour of abolishing the family code. But that should not become our obsession. We will not achieve abolition straight away, because that would require the resolve of a modern, developed society that, without question, accepts equality and the need for the separation of state and religion. In that respect, we still have a long way to go. We must deal with the day-to-day problems women face in our country. Expulsion from the marital home, marriage guardianship, the difficulties of seeking divorce – all these are real challenges that need to be addressed pragmatically. I do not put my political convictions first because that would not help solve women’s problems. I think we need to take smaller steps, starting with a new interpretation of Sharia based on the principle of equality.
Is that equality possible, on a religious basis?
Real equality for men and women does not exist in Islamic law; nor does it exist in Islam’s basic texts. As in all religions, however, we do find the principles of justice and equal value. We can work with those principles to establish a better balance in the relationship between men and women within the family. The need for marriage guardianship, for instance, is not mentioned in the Quran. It was introduced later by clerics who believed that – because women did not work outside the home, and thus had no access to the outside world – they could not choose a husband themselves. From 1962 to 1984, marriage guardianship did not exist at all in Algeria. When a man and woman wanted to marry, they went to the town hall and exchanged vows without the need for a signature by the father or brother of the bride.
The marriage guardianship you criticise so sharply was abolished in Morocco early last year – not least thanks to pressure from women’s organisations.
Morocco’s civil society, the civil society movement, has a tradition, a culture, which has yet to develop in Algeria. Moroccan groups have a great deal more experience of advocacy, of dealing with political institutions. Moreover, Moroccan feminists are not on a confrontational course with the country’s institutions. We in Algeria, on the other hand, are deeply sceptical about our institutions, even if the political will that drives them is good.
Questions by Martina Sabra.
Nadia Ait Zai
is a founding member of the Collectif Maghreb Egalité. Among other things, she is co-author of “100 proposals for an alternative Islamic family code in the Maghreb” and “Dalil pour l’´égalité dans la Famille au Maghreb” (2003) – a publication sponsored by UNIFEM, Oxfam and the Friedrich Ebert Foundation. She is also a co-author of Algeria’s first official survey on violence against women, published in 2005 by the Institut National de Santé Publique.
http://www.ciddef.com
Nadia_Ait@yahoo.com>
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