responsible for the backwardness of the nation.
This discourse continues to shape postcolonial so-
ciety. The results of its modernizing project are
modest at best. More seriously, it failed to give
women an independent voice and has historically
survived by enlisting the support of middle- and
upper-class women for a narrow social agenda that
neglects the needs of their rural and urban work-
ing-class counterparts.
Bibliography
L. Ahmed, Women and gender in Islam, New Haven,
Conn. 1992, 155–7.
Q. Amìn, Ta™rìr al-mar±a, Cairo 1984.
M. Badran, Feminists, Islam and nation, Princeton, N.J.
1995, chapter 5.
B. Baron, The women’s awakening in Egypt, New Haven,
Conn. 1994), chapters 1, 6, 7.
H. Elsadda, Malak £ifnìNàsif. £alqa mafqùda min
tàrìkh al-nah∂a, in £ajar2 (1994), 109–19.
——, Notions of modernity. Representation of the
“Western woman” by female authors in early twentieth
century Egypt, in The Arabs and Britain. Changes and
exchanges, Proceedings of a Conference organized by the
British Council 23–5 March 1998, Cairo 1998, 352–66.
Z. Fawwaz, al-Durr al-manthùr fìraba††abaqàt al-
khudùr, Kuwait n.d.
M. Hatem, Malak £ifnìNàsif bayn ru’ya qadìma wa-
jadìda, in H. al-Íadda (ed.), Min rà±idàt al-qarn al-
≠ishrìn. Shakhßìyàt wa qa∂àyà, Cairo 2001.
——,The nineteenth century discursive roots of the con-
tinuing debate on the social contract in today’s Egypt,
San Domenico, Italy 2002.
H. Kamal, Muhà∂aràt al-fara≠al-nisà±fìal-jàmi≠a al-
mißriyya, in H. al-Íadda (ed.), Min rà±idàt al-qarn al-
≠ishrìn. Shakhßìyàt wa qa∂àyà, Cairo 2001.
L. Kuhnke, Lives at risk. Public health in nineteenth-
century Egypt, Cairo 1990, chapter 7.
N. Bey Mahfouz, The history of medical education in
Egypt, Cairo 1935.
C. Mariscotti, Consent and resistance. The history of
upper and middle class Egyptian women reflected
through their published journals, 1925–1939, Ph.D.
diss., Temple University 1994, chapters 2–3.
C. Nelson, Doria Shafik. Egyptian Feminist, Cairo 1996,
chapter 8.
L. M. Sàlim, al-Mar±a al-Mißriyya wa-al-taghyìr al-ijtimà≠ì
1919–1945, Cairo 1984.
H. Sha≠ràwì, Mudhakkiràt HudàSha≠ràwìra±idat al-
mar±a al-≠Arabiyya al-™adìtha, Cairo 1981.
A. K. B. al-Subkì, al-£araka al-nisà±iyya fìMißr màbayna
al-thawratayn 1919–1936, Cairo 1986.
≠â±isha Taymùr, Natà±ij al-ahwàl fi al-aqwàl wa al-af≠àl,
Cairo 1888, chapters 1, 3.
J. E. Tucker, Women in nineteenth-century Egypt, Cam-
bridge 1985.
Mervat F. HatemFrench North AfricaThe position of women in colonial society in
North Africa was ambiguous; so too was the ques-
tion of gender. European women were from the
french north africa 69perceived “superior” civilization. As such they were
above North African men and women in the colo-
nial hierarchy but below European men. North
African women were at the base of the gender pyra-
mid. Colonial gender frameworks were more tradi-
tional than in metropolitan France, making their
circumvention complex. Perceptions of women and
women’s agency in the colonial enterprise were also
complicated by the fact that the military dominated
the early years of colonial conquest and rule in
Algeria (1830–70) and Morocco (1907–34). In
addition, French occupation of Algeria, considered
to be a part of France, preceded that of the two pro-
tectorates, Tunisia (1882) and Morocco (1912), by
52 and 82 years respectively. These factors shaped
the experiences of women in the three regions of
French North Africa in different ways.
During the military administration in Algeria lit-
tle interest was shown in women, whatever their
origin. The French/European civilian population
was small and suffered from high mortality.
Women who survived experienced the hardships of
a pioneering society. Their agency in the colonial
enterprise and their contact with local women were
limited to the private sphere. As for North African
women, a few officers chose wives from the two
main ethnic groups, Arab and Berber, but on the
whole their condition was deemed to be lamentable
and was often cited as evidence of the inferiority of
Islamic civilization. The French did make some dis-
tinction between Arab and Berber women, the lat-
ter being seen to be more independent than Arab
women. French troops in Algeria were struck by
the fact that Kabyle (a sub-group of the Berbers)
women had joined in the fray of battle ululating
and urging their warriors on to victory. This per-
ceived Amazonian quality differentiated them from
Arab women.
As colonization progressed, artists seeking exotic
inspiration came to North Africa. Their influence
contributed to the fabrication of the “Oriental”
female as exotically erotic. Men (Delacroix, Fromen-
tin, Chassériau) as well as women (Smith-Bodichon,
Anderson) contributed to this development, which
was extended, during the twentieth century, to the
art forms of literature and photography. Sexuality
was therefore a mediating framework between the
cultures of France and North Africa.
The ambiguous nature of colonial practices and
processes toward indigenous women arose out of
their objectification and the contradictory images
that emerged during the early decades of colonial
rule in Algeria. As colonization progressed and
spread to Tunisia and Morocco, the belief that women
were a possible key to successful assimilation was