Only Algerian provincial women can ride motorcycles

Sarah Jgraif - Algeria

In Algeria, whether you are a student, a working woman or staying at home, you can not in any way move within or outside your city by motorbike with one of your family members or alone because it is excessive liberation in the eyes of society, but the strange thing is that women in the only southern regions that She makes the exception by riding a motorcycle normally though she is the most conservative woman in the country.

Exception
A visitor to the city of Ghardaia, in southern Algeria, notices how Mzabian women (relative to the Mzab region) move on motorbikes in the city center, accompanied by their incestors, in a normal way that does not raise the surprise of any of the residents of the region in an appearance that cannot be seen in other cities, including the major cities and the capital.

It is an odd and uncommon thing for a woman to ride a motorbike, and it is seen as a kind of excess liberation, so you do not see a girl riding a motorbike behind her brother to go to university, to work, or anywhere else.

Unlike the Algerian women, the Mzabid woman broke this rule, as she moves very normally on the motorcycle along with her incest, whether to go to the doctor, visit the family, or fulfill her needs naturally, without this being an embarrassment to her, her family, or the environment.

In this matter, Luqman bin Derbal - who works in the field of trade in Ghardaia city - sees this phenomenon as old, and it is a very ordinary thing in the region and does not contradict the principles of conservative Mzab women and their modest traditional dress.

He explains to Al-Jazeera Net that "before the motorcycle and others appeared, the woman was riding the animal behind her incest, and I do not find any embarrassment or defect in the matter preventing the spread of motorcycle riding at all levels of cities."

Not a hindrance
In Ghardaia, women feel no problem in using motorcycles to travel with a member of the family who is driving, as most of them stick to the traditional clothing that covers the body and face without making them an obstacle to riding motorcycles.

Likewise, most of them do not work in the administrative sectors or government jobs, but rather work in the field of crafts and traditional industries such as carpets and clothing and handicrafts, including those who studied at the university and graduated and hold postgraduate degrees.

"The Mozabite woman is productive in the field of traditional works such as weaving, carpeting, sewing, and others, all of which are carried out at home, and she does not come out of it except for necessities," said Sarah Kayous, a university student from Ghardaia on the island.

Regarding the use of a motorbike, she says, "It is a very normal thing, because this phenomenon exists, but it does not drive it by itself. Personally, I think that it is related to the idea of ​​safety because many accidents happen because of reckless youth driving motorcycles, and the bad road situation plays a role in that."

Conditions imposed by
The use of motorcycles largely in the south, such as Ghardaia and Biskra, is due to the nature of the expanding area and the lack of public transportation.

"The bike is a very effective way in the city, because it is easy to use and can access and enter the narrow alleys of Ghardaia, and people who do not have cars can transport their women with motorbikes and help them fulfill their needs," Luqman says to Al Jazeera Net.

Siham El-Harrash, a young woman from Ghardaia, considered that the bike here is not the preferred means of transportation, but is used in emergency cases by people who do not have cars to transport women.

Not far from Ghardaia, in the city of Biskra, in southern Algeria, the bike is a means of transportation for the entire family, so the father usually transfers his sons, wife and daughters on his motorbike normally, especially in some areas of the city, such as the region of Awlad Jalal.

Abdelkader Dahwi, a university student from Biskra, tells Al-Jazeera Net that the motorbike is a means of transport for women, and many girls ride with their fathers on the bike in the middle of the city normally.

Abdul Qadir added: Women riding our bike is not related to morals or freedom, etc., but rather to social conditions. As long as there is a lack of transportation and the inability of families to buy cars, women ride a motorcycle to meet their needs naturally, (the matter) does not carry any abuse of conservative women in the south. .

Dream of big cities
The use of motorbikes by Algerian women in the south remains a practical need and necessity that can help them spend their preoccupations at a lower cost and more speed, while women in major cities and the capital are looking forward to the day when they can move through motorbikes in light of the terrible congestion the roads know there, regardless Of society’s inferior view of the matter that still prevents them from doing so.