The Eloquence of Silence makes a critical departure from more traditional studies of Algerian women—which usually examine female roles in relation to Islam—and instead takes an interdisciplinary look at the subject, arguing that Algerian women's roles are shaped by a variety of structural and symbolic factors. These elements include colonial domination, demographic change, nationalism, socialist development policy of the 1960s and 70s, family formation and the progressive shift to a capitalist economy.

Covering both pre-colonial and colonial eras as well as the independence period, this book focuses on the changes that took place in family structure and law, customs, education, and the war of decolonization as they affected gender relations. Marnia Lazreg approaches the post-colonial era through an examination of how Algeria's model of economic development, structural adjustment policies, and the rise of religious-political opposition affected women's lives.