COUNTRY REPORT: Algeria

Although Algerian women played a key role in the war for independence from France, which lasted from 1954 to 1962, the battle for gender equality has long been overshadowed by the nationalist struggle. Since 1962, government offi cials have formally acknowledged women's central role in the construction of an independent nation. However, very few grassroots feminist organizations developed in the 1960s and 1970s. Even former female combatants in the independence struggle often argued that nationalist objectives were more pressing than the elimination of gender discrimination.