Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-5wvtr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-19T18:26:30.412Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Tradition and the Veil: Female Status in Tunisia and Algeria

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 November 2008

Extract

Theories of modernisation and social change have been increasingly challenged during the past decade by events in the Middle East and other areas of the developing world. Leaders of oil-rich nations are choosing to industrialise but not to westernise, and Islamic revivals are shaping new patterns of political and social development. For example, improvements in female status can no longer be regarded as the inevitable concomitants of industrialisation; to the contrary, gender inequality may actually be exacerbated by national resurgences of religious and cultural traditions which often accompany planned social change.1

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1981

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

page 625 note 1 This thesis is elaborated in a cross-cultural analysis of traditional revivals in the U.S. and the Middle East; see Marshall, Susan E., ‘Women as Symbol: patriarchy in changing Muslim society’, Department of Sociology, University of Texas at Austin, 1980.Google Scholar

page 625 note 2 For an elaboration of these models and comparative empirical data for North Africa, see Marshall, Susan E., ‘The Power of the Veil: the politics of female Status in North Africa’, Ph.D. dissertation, University of Massachusetts, 1980.Google Scholar

page 626 note 1 Elements of this perspective have been presented in Stokes, Randall G. and Harris, Anthony, ‘South African Development and the Paradox of Racial Particularism: toward a theory of modernization from the center’, in Economic Development and Cultural Change (Chicago), 26, 01 1978, pp. 245–69.Google Scholar

page 626 note 2 For a full discussion of the intellectual evolution of modernisation theory, see Bendix, Reinhard, ‘Tradition and Modernity Reconsidered’, in Comparative Studies in Society and History (Cambridge), 9, 04 1967, pp. 292346Google Scholar; and Dean C. Tipps, ‘Modernization Theory and the Comparative Study of Societies: a critical perspective’, in ibid. 15, May 1973, pp. 199–226.

page 627 note 1 For more extensive critiques of functionalist theory, see Gusfield, Joseph R., ‘Tradition and Modernity: misplaced polarities in the study of social change’, in American Journal of Sociology (Chicago), 72, 01 1967, PP. 351–62Google Scholar; Portes, Alejandro, ‘Modernity and Development: a critique’, in Studies in Comparative International Development (Beverly Hills), 9, Spring 1974, pp.247–79,Google Scholar and ‘On the Sociology of National Development: theories and issues’, in American Journal of Sociology, 82, July 1976, pp. 55–85; and Lasch, Christopher, ‘The Family and History’, in New York Review of Books, 22, 13 11 1975, pp. 33–8.Google Scholar

page 627 note 2 These assumptions concerning the amelioration of the status of women with industrialisation are frequently implicit, since women have traditionally been of only peripheral concern to scholars of modernisation. This substantive neglect and its theoretical implications are addressed by Blake, Judith, ‘The Changing Status of Women in Developed Countries’, in Black, C. E. (ed), Comparative Modernization (New York, 1976), pp. 305–20.Google Scholar

page 627 note 3 Lerner, Daniel, The Passing of Traditional Society (New York, 1958)Google Scholar; Inkeles, Alex and Smith, David H., Becoming Modern (Cambridge, Mass., 1974)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and Shorter, Edward, The Making of the Modern Family (New York, 1975).Google Scholar

page 628 note 1 Geertz, Clifford, ‘The Integrative Revolution’, in Geertz, (ed.), Old Societies and New States (New York, 1963), pp. 105–57.Google Scholar

page 628 note 2 Stokes and Harris, loc.cit.

page 630 note 1 Singer, Marshal, The Emerging Elite: a study of political leadership in Ceylon (Cambridge, Mass., 1964).Google Scholar

page 631 note 1 Wallerstein, Immanuel, Africa: the politics of independence (New York, 1961), p. 73.Google Scholar

page 631 note 2 Matossian, Mary, ‘Ideologies of Delayed Institutionalization’, in Economic Development and Cultural Change, 6, 04 1958, pp. 217–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

page 633 note 1 Smith, Donald Eugene, Religion and Political Development (Boston, 1970).Google Scholar

page 633 note 2 The Koran, translated with notes by Dawood, N. J. (Harmondsworth, 1978 edn.), 4:34, p. 370.Google Scholar

page 634 note 1 Gordon, David C., Women of Algeria: an essay on change (Cambridge, Mass., 1968),Google Scholar Harvard Middle Eastern Monograph Series, No. 19.

page 634 note 2 Mohsen, Safia K., ‘The Egyptian Woman: between modernity and tradition’, in Matthiasson, C. J. (ed.), Many Sisters: women in cross-cultural perspective (New York, 1974), pp. 6297.Google Scholar

page 634 note 3 The average fertility levels of the Muslim countries are higher than those of any developing region. Regional comparisons and national breakdowns are presented in Youssef, Nadia Haggag, ‘The Status and Fertility Levels of Muslim Women’, in Keddie, N. and Beck, L. (eds.), Women in the Muslim World (Cambridge, Mass., 1978), pp. 2752.Google Scholar

page 634 note 4 Smock, Audrey Chapman and Youssef, Nadia Haggag, ‘Egypt: from seclusion to limited participation’, in Giele, J. Z. and Smock, A. C. (eds.), Women: roles and status in eight countries (New York, 1977), pp. 64–5.Google Scholar

page 635 note 1 Youssef, Nadia Haggag, Women and Work in Developing Societies (Berkeley, 1974),Google Scholar University of California Population Monograph Series, No. 15.

page 635 note 2 Heggoy, Alf Andrew, ‘Cultural Disrespect: European and Algerian views on women in colonial and independent Algeria’, in The Muslim World (Hartford, Connecticut), 62, 10 1972, pp. 323–4.Google Scholar

page 635 note 3 Nyrop, Richard F. et al. , Area Handbook for Algeria (Washington, D.C., 1972), p. 153.Google Scholar

page 635 note 4 Gordon, op.cit. p. 78.

page 636 note 1 Watson, Walter B. and Lapham, Robert J., ‘Family Planning Programs: world review, 1974’, in Studies in Family Planning (New York), 6, 08 1975, pp. 205322Google Scholar; also New York Times, 10 07 1975, p. 35.Google Scholar

page 636 note 2 Boals, Kay and Stiehm, Judith, ‘The Women of Liberated Algeria’, in The Center Magazine (Santa Barbara), 7, 0506 1974, pp. 74–6Google Scholar; Stiehm, Judith, ‘Algerian Women: honor, survival, and Islamic socialism’, in Iglitzin, L. R. and Ross, R. (eds.), Women in the World: a comparative study (Santa Barbara, 1976)Google Scholar; and New York Times, 2 April 1974, p. 35.

page 637 note 1 Anderson, J. N. D., ‘The Role of Personal Statutes in Social Development of Islamic Countries’, in Comparative Studies in Society and History, 13, 01 1971, pp. 1631.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

page 637 note 2 Churchill, Charles W., ‘The Arab World’, in Patai, R. (ed.), Women in the Modern World (New York, 1967), p. 114.Google Scholar

page 637 note 3 Watson and Lapham, loc.cit. p. 307.

page 637 note 4 Gallagher, Charles F., ‘Family Planning in Tunisia’, in American University Field Staff Reports (Hanover, N.H.), 12, 1966Google Scholar; and Mauldin, W. Parker, ‘Assessment of National Family Planning Programs in Developing Countries’, in Studies in Family Planning, 6, 1975, p. 34.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed

page 637 note 5 Quoted by Durrani, Lorna Hawker, ‘Employment of Women and Social Change’, in Stone, R. A. and Simmons, J. (eds.), Change in Tunisia (Albany, 1976), p. 57.Google Scholar

page 637 note 6 Quoted by Rossi, Pierre, Bourguiba's Tunisia (Tunis, 1967), p. 88.Google Scholar

page 638 note 1 Bellah, Robert N., ‘Religious Aspects of Modernization in Turkey and Japan’, in American Journal of Sociology, 64, 07 1958, pp. 15CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Stokes and Harris, loc.cit.; and Marshall, Susan E., ‘Islamic Revival in the Maghreb: the utility of tradition for modernizing elites’, in Studies in Comparative International development, 14, Summer 1979, pp. 95108.Google Scholar

page 639 note 1 Sources: New York Times Index, 1964–1975, and Quarterly Etonomic Review (London), 19671975.Google Scholar

page 639 note 2 Nordlinger, Eric A., ‘Political Development: times sequences and rates of change’, in Finkle, J. L. and Gable, R. W. (eds.), Political Development and Social Change (New York, 1966).Google Scholar

page 639 note 3 Huntington, Samuel P., ‘Political Development and Political Decay’, in Welch, Claude E. Jr (ed), Political Modernization (Belmont, 1967).Google Scholar

page 639 note 4 Nyrop et al.; and New York Times, 25 February 1973, p. 2.

page 639 note 5 Jeune Afrique (Paris), 26 11 1967Google Scholar; and Sheehan, E. R. F., ‘The Algerians Intend to Go It Alone, Raise Hell, Hold Out, and Grow’, in New York Times, 23 04 1972, pp. 1838.Google Scholar

page 640 note 1 Micaud, Charles A., Tunisia: the politics of modernization (New York, 1964)Google Scholar; Reese, Howard D. et al. , Area Handbook for the Republic of Tunisia (Washington, D.C., 1970)Google Scholar; and Koury, Enver M., The Patterns of Mass Movements in Arab-Revolutionary Progressive States (The Hague, 1970).Google Scholar

page 640 note 2 Bourdieu, Pierre, The Algerians (Boston, 1962), pp. 120–1.Google Scholar

page 643 note 1 Fanon, Frantz, A Dying Colonialism (New York, 1965), p. 39.Google Scholar

page 643 note 2 In 1957, for example, Fanon reported that Algerian servants and prostitutes were brought to the public squares of Algiers and unveiled to the cries of ‘Vive l'Algérie française!’ Ibid. p. 42.

page 645 note 1 Frank, André Gunder, ‘The Development of Underdevelopment’, in Cockcroft, J. D., Frank, A. G., and Johnson, D. L. (eds), Dependence and Underdevelopment (Garden City, N.Y., 1972)Google Scholar; and Chase-Dunn, Christopher, ‘The Effects of International Economic Dependence on Development and Inequality: a cross-national study’ in American Sociological Review (Washington, D.C.), 40, 12 1975, pp. 720–38.Google Scholar

page 645 note 2 Boserup, Ester, Women's Role in Economic Development (London, 1970)Google Scholar; Bossen, Laurel, ‘Women in Modernizing Societies’, in American Ethnologist (Washington, D.C.), 2, 11 1975 pp. 587601Google Scholar; and Rubinson, Richard, ‘The World Economy and the Distribution of Income Within States: a cross-national study’, in American Sociological Review, 41, 08 1976, pp. 638–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar