The Power of Amazigh and Arab Women: Historical Realities That Are Often Overlooked

Conversations about Amazigh and Arab women often fall into stereotypes that don't reflect historical or sociological reality. Research across North Africa consistently shows that women have played central roles as decision makers, land owners, cultural leaders and custodians of language. Many of these practices challenge the common assumption that Amazigh and Arab societies are wholly patriarchal. The truth is far more complex.

Amazigh communities across Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya have long histories of matrilineal, women-centred practices. These practices are not symbolic, but they shaped social structure. In some Amazigh tribes, property passed through women, especially agriculture and livestock. This gave women stable economic power and influence over family decisions. Women are also considered as guardians of the Amazigh language - linguistic transmission happens primarily through mothers and grandmothers, who teach their children the language through riddles, songs, oral poetry and story telling, allowing the strong continuity of the Amazigh lineage.

From Amazigh women like Dihya, the 7th century leader who resisted the Umayyad conquest, to less famous examples such as rural Moroccan women who transported weapons, organised village communication or physically fought French colonisation - are well documented examples of gender norms where women were expected to defend land and community.

Arab societies, similarly, are often flattened into a narrative of strict patriarchy, although historical and sociological evidence shows a more layered reality.

Arab women historically held economic roles that challenge the stereotype of domestic confinement. A well known example is Khadija Bint Khuwaylid (ra), the first wife of the prophet Mohamed (pbuh), who was a successful trader who employed men, including the prophet himself. Islamic history also includes women whose scholarly influence was widely recognised: Aisha (ra) transmitted over 2000 Hadiths (sayings of the prophet pbuh) and advised political leaders; Umm-Darda, an early Islamic jurist, taught male scholars and judges... These are a few examples amongst many, showing that women's authority existed not only in domestic life but also in public, intellectual, educational and political spaces.

So much evidence exists, yet both Western discourse and certain religious scholars continue to distort or selectively interpret it to reinforce their own narratives about Muslim, Amazigh and Arab women.

Women in power instill fear - which is precisely why their histories are often distorted or erased to uphold patriarchal power structures that rely on women's silence to sustain themselves.