Dec 3, 2007
France.
"When the French government invaded Algeria, in 1830, it started a vast campaign of military 'pacification,' which was quickly followed by the imposition of French laws deemed necessary for the civilizing mission to succeed. Women were crucial to that enterprise. In articles, stories and novels of the day, Algerian women were universally depicted as oppressed, and so in order for civilization truly to penetrate Algeria, the argument went, the women had to cast off their veils. General Bugeaud, who was charged with administering the territory in the 1840s, declared, 'The Arabs elude us because they conceal their women from our gaze.'"
