Les Algériens pour les Algériennes

A subject I have been putting off for a long time now, but cannot ignore it any longer;

How many comments I’d read and heard from Algerian men complaining about the way they have been treated by Algerian women, they gave up on Algerian women, they feel snubbed, criticised and rejected by all Algerian women at home, in France, England and abroad in general, however I am not so sure about Canada and the US, I think perhaps their small community makes for a more united one comparing with the rest of our community here in Europe.

You always hear some Algerian guy describing how he ended up marrying a European woman because he was rejected by all Algerian women when he decided to “settle” for one of them, they bring up bad souvenirs of how the girls snubbed him in high school and then University, how the fact that he comes from a small town makes the girls from big cities snub him and look down on him during his years at University, a continued theme even overseas, Algerian women, it seems still snub men who come from smaller towns even when they meet abroad, their criteria does not seem to have changed and they remain arrogant to their male counterparts based on geographical or linguistic (different accent) reasons.

One of my readers kindly quoted Kateb Yacine , he said something in the sense of “I dread the day when Algerian women would not look at Algerian men anymore"
I think this was such a just and accurate prediction that it is on a Nostradamus’s scale. But what did he base his statement on?

Was he referring to the way Algerian women are evolving past Algerian men or perhaps to the superior speed they are evolving at, or it could be that he (Kateb Yacine) meant that Algerian women have become generally the better tier of the Algerian populace, this may be in some cases, perhaps due to their education, this has a historical cause that is quite known, during the 80s and 90s when women’s rights were suppressed in Algeria and their civil rights were next to nonexistent, These women focused on the one thing they could do with reasonable freedom: Studies; they attended universities, they excelled, obtained degrees and climbed the career ladder as much as there was scope for; making them superior to the general male population of Algeria who were not always as concerned with further studies post the ages of 18, although this is not true for all Algerians but for the most part I believe.

Algerian women having reached a certain level of emancipation and freedom, I will not go as far as claiming gender equality but Algerian women are known for claiming their rights and being fighters, a systematic consequence I believe to the years of suppression, is that when the Algerian women finally reached the level of social status, financial freedom and educational level she strived for, she looked back to the Algerian men and thought “I can do better than this”

The number of Algerian women marrying non Algerians has been on the rise since the late nineties, The Algerian woman in general perceive the Algerian man as the oppressor, the man who would take over from her father and brothers in the confinement regime, the financial sequestration and general cause of her discontent.

In the meantime, men feel resentful towards the Algerian women for many other factors, such as arrogance and snobbishness, being difficult to approach, dishonesty, deceit to a certain level, being materialistic, being extremely superficial and for the false image they present of being the perfect loving and understanding future wife only to undergo a whole personality makeover within weeks of the wedding, making it a sham and leading to discontent and ultimately divorce.

So Algerian men also started looking away from their female counterparts, marrying Europeans (English and Polish being the most popular choices).

The Algerian woman doesn’t seem to take offence at this trend, whereas the Algerian man seems to feel insulted and indignant when Algerian women marry a non Arab/Muslim, this phenomenon seems to be spreading amongst the Algerian community in Algeria and abroad,  Algerian girls now dream of meeting and ultimately marrying a European man with the hope of leading “la belle vie” away from Algeria, this European man who would encourage her self development, acknowledge her religion and culture if she has strong ties to it herself, who will not try to oppress her and hopefully treat her as his equal.

With this new tendency of Algerians turning away from each other and exploring new horizons and opportunities in terms of marriage, women seem to always offer each other the very wise “You don’t belong with an Algerian, you belong with a European”, which seems to be quite the compliment.

I know Algerian men are known to be complicated, difficult, bad tempered, stubborn, macho, jealous, annoying, and judgmental but what man of any other culture or religion is not one or many of these things? It is a sad day when a nation is divided between males and females renouncing each other, if this new trend continues what will become of our culture, language, history and children?