"'Complementary' status for Tunisian women" (Foreign Policy, Aug 2012) (original) (raw)

Equal or complementary? Women in the new Tunisian Constitution after the Arab Spring

The Journal of North African Studies, 2014

The Arab Spring has inaugurated a new form of politics that represents a shift from a 'politics from above' to a 'politics from below' in regard to gender policy in Tunisia. Discourse surrounding state policy on gender, formerly the purview of elite groups, has recently been shaped and driven by popular organizations and associations. This article draws on Habermas to argue that the shift has been facilitated by the emergence of a new public sphere and engaged civil society following the fall of the Zine El Abidine Ben Ali regime in 2011. To demonstrate the emergence and diversity of Tunisian civil society, we focus on the promulgation of a new constitution and the debate surrounding Article 28, which has been contested by some Tunisians as reducing women's status to 'complementary.' A discussion of women's status in the history of Tunisian family law, especially in the popularly valorized Code of Personal Status, illustrates how women's rights were historically expanded as a top down policy or 'politics from above.' We juxtapose this historical context with the present period of transition and constitution writing since 2011. An examination of quotations from Tunisian women, both opponents and supporters of Article 28, demonstrates the shift in Tunisia from a 'politics from above' to a 'politics from below' as women's groups are making demands upon the state and voicing their concerns in ways that have profoundly influenced the tenor of debates around gender politics in the country.

Tunisian Women's Rights before and after the Revolution (2013)

Nouri Gana (ed.), The Making of the Tunisian Revolution: Contexts, Architects, Prospects (pp. 224-251), 2013

This book chapter offers an overview of challenges and opportunities for Tunisian women's rights before and after Tunisia's 2011 revolution. From Nouri Gana’s introduction: “Monica Marks deftly weaves together the ways in which the issue of women’s rights has been used and abused by Bourguiba and Ben Ali to maintain their hold on power. Counter-revolutionary forces, along with a host of opposition parties, have similarly wheeled out the issue of women’s rights in order to show how bad Ennadha would be for women despite Ennahda’s endorsement of the Personal Status Code of 1957 and of a new constitution that does not include Sharia law. What has muddled the waters even further, however, is the rise to prominence of Salafism, one of the most mediatized phenomena in postrevolutionary Tunisia, especially insofar as it directly affects women’s rights.”

Women's rights in Tunisia and the democratic renegotiation of an authoritarian legacy

Since the 2011 revolution, Tunisia has been negotiating what it is to become, a process of rebirth in which women’s rights is key. The ongoing debates reflect a confrontation between the feminist policies of Habib Bourguiba (the first president of the Tunisian republic) and alternative notions of women’s rights. In this article, I examine the debates that are currently taking place in Tunisia. I argue that the topic of women’s rights is crucial in the power struggle between the political elites within Tunisia. It is symbolic of the much wider battle over the future of the country. Moreover, the legislative outcomes of the debates are indicative for the post-revolutionary political dynamics, showing the strength of so-called secularists.

Women and the Making of the Tunisian Constitution

2017

This article attempts to glean from field interviews and secondary sources some of the sociopolitical complexities that underlay women’s engagement in Tunisia’s 2011-14 constitution-making process. Elucidating such complexities can provide further insight into how women’s engagement impacted the substance and enforceability of the constitution’s final text. We argue that, in spite of longstanding roadblocks to implement and enforce constitutional guarantees, the greater involvement of Tunisian women in the constitution drafting process did make a difference in the final gender provisions of Tunisia’s constitution. Although not all recommendations were adopted, Tunisian women were able to use an autochthonous process to edify the country and set the foundation for greater rights consciousness. This article also seeks to define the degree and nature of external influence on national efforts to advance women’s rights and on the drafting of Tunisia’s gender provisions. Although our rese...

Tunisia at the Forefront of the Arab World: Two Waves of Gender Legislation

Starting in the 1950s and ever since, Tunisia has implemented gender legislation expanding women's rights in family law. The ground breaking phase occurred with the promulgation of the Code of Personal Status in the mid-1950s during the formation of a national state in the aftermath of independencefrom French colonial rule. Another major phase occurred in the 1990s with citizenship law reforms as embodied in the Tunisian Code ofNationality. As a result ofthese two majorphases, Tunisia has been at theforefront of"womanfriendly" legislative changes in the Arab-Muslim world and is widely recognized as such. At a time when issues of women's rights are not only highly debated, but sometimes violently contested in Muslim countries, the Tunisian case requires examination. This Article documents the two major phases of reforms in favor of women's rights in Tunisia and outlines the conditions that permitted or encouraged the continuity over the last halfcentury. The first wave of reforms in the 1950s transformed the legal construction ofgender roles within the family. The second wave in the 1990s redefined the conditions for the transmission of Tunisian citizenship. In painting social change in broad strokes, I analyze the initial and pioneering phase of the 1950s as a reform resulting from the actions ofa newlyformed national state interested in building a new society at the end of colonial rule. By contrast, the role of women's agency came into play in Tunisia

Tunisia's women: partners in revolution

special issue of The Journal of North African Studies, 2014

This paper examines gender politics of the Tunisian revolution and the transitional period from 14 January 2011 to the elections on 23 October 2011 within the theoretical framework of revolutionary 'restoration'. The broader arc of the revolution saw a radical change in Tunisia's gender politics from 'state-feminist' ideology of the pre-revolution period to decentralised 'gender activisms' of the post-revolutionary period. Revolution, however, also moves towards restorations of social and gender dynamics of the previous political order. The postrevolutionary 'gender activisms' sought to restore the justice of foundational moral principles: 'secular human rights' or 'Islamist principles'. The transitional government also restored the gendered hierarchies reminiscent of the nationalist period. The restoration of the foundational principles of the Tunisian state and Third World nationalist discourse signalled the persistence of a gender paradox where Tunisian women's social struggles coexisted within the malegendered politics. The paper presents accounts of women's marginalisation from the postrevolutionary transitional committees, the transitional governments' ministerial positions and from the media. The interviews show diversity in political opinions and orientations between women from different social classes, religious identifications and from different regions. society and politics. Valentine Moghadam's assertions about the gendered character of political and social change in the region could be noted here:

Women’s Rights, Democracy and Citizenship in Tunisia

2020

The gap between the role that women have played in Tunisian history and their current position in public and political life makes it difficult to address the issues of woman’s rights in relation to citizenship and democracy in Tunisia. Since the foundation of the ancient Phoenician-Punic city of Carthage, women have played a crucial role in the establishment of modern-day Tunisia endowed with a unique destiny. However, over the centuries, this role has often been obscured and undermined by politicized approaches to history with a deliberate attempt to conceal the women’s contribution. This chapter will examine the role of women in Tunisian society from the perspective of women’s identity, caught in a dichotomy between secular and religious worlds. Furthermore, we will examine women’s major contributions to the founding of Tunisia, providing an insight into the country’s current issues and challenges. We believe that the analysis of the role and place of women as citizens in the demo...