Progress Amid Resistance

ALGERIA 43negative stereotypes and habits remain a major obstacle to women’s economicempowerment.The constitution and the family code protect the right of Algerianwomen to own and independently use land and property, although socialnorms encourage women to let men make ownership decisions. An article ofthe family code that required women to obey their husbands was amendedin 2005, but upon divorce a woman must bring evidence that she participatedin the funding of items she wants to keep. Article 37 of the amendedfamily code permits the prospective bride and groom to add a provision intheir marriage contract establishing the separation of their goods.Algeria’s inheritance law is based on the Maliki school of Islamic jurisprudence,under which a daughter is entitled to the equivalent of half herbrother’s share of inheritance. When a woman has no brother, the sharethat would have gone to a brother is divided among other male relatives.Most women’s rights activists oppose the current inheritance scheme, butthose in favor of it argue that men are responsible for the material wellbeingof their wives and daughters under Islamic law and therefore need anextra share of inheritance. Many families circumvent the inequities of theinheritance law by giving portions of estates to daughters while the owneris still alive, a practice that some government officials have criticized as aform of tax evasion. If the government regulates these lifetime donationsmore rigidly without making a corresponding amendment to the inheritancelaw, families could have greater difficulty ensuring that their daughtersreceive equal shares. Some women are pressured by male relatives togive up their legal share of inheritance to keep land and other propertyin the male line of the family, but the situation is improving slowly, andthere is considerable variation from place to place. A recent survey by theCenter for Information and Documentation on Children’s and Women’sRights (CIDDEF) showed that 76 percent of teenagers (ages 14–17) and59 percent of adults (aged 18 and over) are in favor of equal inheritancerights. Among the male population, 38 percent of adults and 50 percentof teenagers share this opinion. 30Children between the ages of 6 and 16 must attend school, which isfree under Article 53 of the constitution. A 2006 national education surveyfound that 96.3 percent of girls and 96.9 percent of boys receivedprimary education. 31 However, the study showed that more girls than boysobtain secondary and postsecondary education. Fifty-seven percent of girlsbetween ages 16 and 19 enrolled in secondary education, compared with