Algerian Women in the Liberation Struggle and the Civil War: From Active Participants to Passive Victims?

During the Algerian war for independence from France (1954-62), thousands of women were active participants, taking initiative even on deadly missions. During the civil war of the 1990s, tens of thousands of women and girls were the victims of terrorists who denied not just their womanhood but their humanity. The author went to Algeria in April 2001 to ask how this apparent shift from active participant to passive victim could have happened. Her findings are recorded in this article.