User:Mar Aeza/New Sandbox

Women and nationalism
To modernists between the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth, the status of women in Arab society was seen as a symptom of backwardness. Consequently, '''the reinterpretation of Islamic texts proposed with the revival of Arab culture also included the women question. This was possible before nationalism became directly opposed to the European model.''' In this sense, the connection of the "ideal Arab woman" to the conceptions of modernity in relation to the West made women "markers of cultural borders". Consistent with this logic would be the discussion on the unveiling of women, which came to be used as a symbol of progress in the early twentieth century by Egypt. Additionally, Tunisian women protested its usage for the first time during the 1920s and the 1930s. However, this image "...was not much different from that of a tractor, an industrial complex, or a new railroad in symbolizing the modern, the development, the progress".

The women question became more complex to deal with once the requirement of women's political involvement needed to coexist with the continuity of tradition. However, once Arab nationalism challenged Western cultural influence, women's compliance to Arab values was key to distinguish themselves from Europe, or to not become Western-like. The former can be exemplified by how the use of the veil was reintroduced as a nationalist symbol during the Algerian War of Independence, in response to the strong French campaign against its use during the 1930s. Some authors argue there is a link between opposition to Westernization and the strengthening of domestic roles to protect Arab identity. Nadje Al-Ali and Beth Baron call this a process of gendering of nationalism, where the Arab nationalist discourse replicated the most conservative conceptions of womanhood. Following this logic, the laws that regulated the private sphere became stricter, or tightened. Conversely, this assertion has been nuanced by Deniz Kandiyoti, under the argument that the relationship between Islam and women's rights is "politically convergent" and should not be generalized nor simplified without a proper study of each case.

Because of this, the expansion of women's political and economic rights was achieved under nationalist regimes, but it was deficient when it came to questioning their domestic limitations, such as polygamy, divorce, and the minimum age for marriage. In Egypt, the 1956 Constitution granted women the right to vote for the first time in history, as well as their right to education and employment. Nasser also guaranteed economic rights to the working class and the peasantry regardless of gender. The Algerian constitution also acknowledged equal rights to all citizens, but until 1984 no changes were made in personal status codes, and social attitudes toward women receiving education beyond the primary level or going to work were restrictive. Associated is the phenomenon of state-feminism; it refers to the state's co-option of women's agenda to gain political legitimacy and constrict female mobilization. This was a strategy used by Nasser, who banned the creation of autonomous organizations and formulated women's demands as social welfare issues, leading to a recession of Egyptian feminist activism. Women were thus dependent on the patriarchal state for political representation.