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In a discussion on the Facebook page of the Algerian feminist group “Kikima Che Femara” revolving around the subject of the family budget, Internet users all agreed that “spouses must contribute to family expenses.” Some recalled that men must still provide for their wives. The Internet user E.T. wondered “what will she do with her salary?”
Those who support the idea of the man providing daily bread certainly refer to the Family Code, which provides in its article 74 that the husband must provide for the maintenance of his wife (1). This text is based on the position of Islam which in its verse 34 of the Qur'anic sura An-nisa (women) orders that “men have authority over women, because of the advantages that God has granted them over them and because of the expenses they incur for their maintenance” (2).
Since money is a men’s affair, that of women is no more than a “supplementary” income, even if it sometimes represents the only resource in the household budget.
Algerian society hypocritically despises a man who lives off the money of his sister, his wife or his mother as “he is not a man,” while families living off the labor of their daughter is socially very common. It is omitted that mothers are those who strive to make ends meet modest budgets sacrificing their own desires. However, in reality, the roles are not as fixed, because Algerian women aspire to their financial autonomy, especially since they rely less and less on the large patriarchal family that is disappearing and that no longer has the means to support all its members.
The deterioration of purchasing power, the housing crisis, demographic pressure, new consumption patterns have reshuffled the cards of Algerian society. It is time for profit, business and resourcefulness. Women who have always been in the informal sector are not left out. Since the 2000s, they have been trying to develop their know-how to integrate the economic space by creating their own retail store or company.
More than 41,500 micro-enterprises have been established thanks to state aid schemes. In 2021, more than 175,000 women were registered in the trade register. Algerian women want to earn money to emancipate themselves and they now discuss “business and affairs”, a field previously reserved for men. They have conquered social networks to sell products and services online. They provide home-based services such as beauty care, hairdressing, childcare and catering.
Law Professor at the University of Algiers, Leila Boussaid explains that women prefer to remain in the informal sector - which accounts for a large part of the Algerian economy - in order to spare themselves the administrative hassle, the sexist environment of the company, street harassment and criticism from the husband or brother who appreciate their dinars but not their independence. According to Leila Boussaid, the regression of Algerian society in recent years in terms of individual and collective freedoms further penalizes women in their professional careers. Added to the weaknesses of the distribution circuits for goods and the opacity of financing, these constraints often discourage women’s entrepreneurial ambitions.
In 2021, more than 175,000 women were registered in the trade register. Algerian women want to earn money to emancipate themselves.
The hostile world of work
Starting a business is not within the reach of all women. More and more of them are therefore opting for careers in more stable sectors such as public administration. They represent more than 41% (about one million) of the total number of civil servants, 45.16% work in liberal activities, 17.11% in crafts, 16.42% in the services sector and 14.29% in the industrial sector. Nevertheless, in 2019, the employment rate of women did not exceed 13.5% while that of men was 61.2%.
In his speech at the International Women's Forum in Algiers in December 2021, the Director of the employment agency (ANEM) explained that “this low figure (is due) to the difficulty of obtaining funding, lack of training, the difficulty of integrating the professional environment, of reconciling professional life and family life, or even of certain social and cultural difficulties” that are constraints to the professional integration of women.
According to statistics of ANEM (3), 39% or more than 814,000 job seekers are women. Algerian law does not discriminate in terms of access to employment, but the government does nothing to promote the employment of women, preferring to blame mentalities and employers. Day-care places for children are a rare commodity, there are no school canteens, in small towns transport is unreliable, security in public spaces is insufficient, the glass ceiling is very solid. These many obstacles block female labor.
With regard to retirement, the 2022 World Bank Report (4) stated that “Algeria may wish to consider equalizing the ages at which men and women can retire with full pension benefits, equalizing the ages at which men and women can retire with partial pension benefits, and equalizing the mandatory retirement age for men and women.”
In a recent study (5) conducted by the organization EFE (Education for Employment) with the support of the MEPI (Middle East Partnership Initiative): “Only 15% of study participants felt that all job types were acceptable for women. An additional 10% felt that all sectors were appropriate if the employer manages mixing between genders, and an additional 8% felt that all job types were acceptable so long as women returned home before dark. Among male interview participants, only 57% felt women should work, compared to 89% of women.”
This situation is all the more surprising since women are the champions of academic success. There are 62% female students and 42% female teachers in Algerian universities. In other words, 44% of the total workforce of universities are women. However, 54% of all women registered as unemployed are university graduates, and 22% of them are graduates of vocational training centers and institutes.
Among male interview participants, only 57% felt women should work,
compared to 89% of women”
Marriage contract to avoid unpleasant surprises
Why does she need the money? Asked a user in the chat of “Kikema Che Femara”. If the money a woman earns does not fall into the hands of the family, especially a single woman will hear this question at one time or another. Women are supposed to work to “help”, to respond to emergencies, current needs and not for a personal project, or for their pleasure.ì
In the past, it was accepted that young girls or their mothers save their meagre earnings from the sale of handicrafts or agricultural products to prepare the dowry for the future marriage and relieve the head of the family of this burden. It was not about becoming independent. In the countryside, women were able to sell on their own account, a small quota of family production, olive oil (which they themselves had harvested from elsewhere) to those around them or the products of their henhouse. In the city, they were seamstresses, embroiderers, or pastry chefs.
Today, women have a regular income through their salary, fees or benefits and they finally have their own personal projects. Buying a car, a house, traveling are no longer unattainable dreams for a woman when she is lucky enough not to have to support an unemployed brother, son or husband, an elderly father, a widowed or divorced mother.
Confronting the men of the clan to obtain one’s due requires courage and financial and relational means that women do not always have
Professor of law at the University of Algiers, Leila Boussaid recalls the remarks of one of these women who “do not receive their salaries”, the husband having the salary of his wife to whom he concedes her “pocket money”. If she refuses, he can forbid her to work under any pretext whatsoever. The woman’s money goes into the common fund so to speak and can be used to finance the purchase of a car, major household equipment or a piece of property. “The problem is that these acquisitions are made in the husband’s name.” In Algeria, financial transactions belong more often to the male world. “I have lost count of the cases of women who have built or bought property but who do not appear on the deed of property. In the event of a divorce, they discover that after years of work they are left with nothing.”
The Family Code provides that the father must offer shelter for his minor children whose mother has custody. She is supposed to be able to stay in the marital home or have decent accommodation that the husband must pay for. If the children are adults, then the mother must leave the premises that are considered as property of the husband. The mothers thrown into the streets of Algerian cities know this all too well. These women are kicked out because the man declares himself unable to finance other accommodation and tells the judge that he wants to start a new family.
“All this suffering could be avoided if women applied for a marriage contract to protect themselves in the event of a divorce. The Family Code provides for the marriage contract so you should resort to it!” insists Leila Boussaid. The couples who formalize their marriage are very rare. “Women are hostile to it because they fear being accused of venality, of lack of trust in their future marriage or, even worse, of scaring away the suitor. I keep repeating to the women who consult me that the contract does not prevent romanticism or love,” regrets Professor Boussaid.
This same fear of being misjudged also explains why they do not claim their share of the inheritance either from greedy brothers. Confronting the men of the clan to obtain one’s due requires courage and financial and relational means that women do not always have. Algerian women who are still exploited at will by their relatives will only be able to unlock their situation through their economic integration and their reappropriation of the right to spend the money they earn as they see fit.