Women in Tunisia

As of 2008, the U.S. Population Reference Bureau reported that Tunisia's population of women between the ages of 15 and 49 was 3,000,000. By 2015, there will be 3,100,000 women of the same age bracket in the country. ==History==

When Tunisia was still under French protectorate, the majority of Tunisian women were uneducated and performed the domestic duties required by husbands and fathers. However, with the onset of the country's independence movement, a voice for equality between men and women emerged. In fact, by the early 20th century, many urban families were educating their daughters. In 1956, The Code of Personal Status (Tunisia) was enacted—a document that has undergone heavy reform since its inception. This document has abolished polygamy and repudiation, enabled women to ask for divorce, enacted a minimum age for marriage and ordered the consent of both spouses before marriage. Abortion on request was legalized in October 1973. In 1993, feminists and women's organizations’ lobbying efforts resulted in certain modifications to the Code of Personal Status. The modifications stated that a wife was not obliged to obey her husband, but did require her to "share part of the financial burden of the family". Despite releasing women from obedience to their husbands, they were now required to equally contribute to managing family affairs. However, a vague clause within the Code requires women to "deal with their husbands in accordance with custom and tradition." This clause makes it difficult for women to assert their independence (and thus ability to contribute to her family's financial burden) because 'tradition' and 'custom' are often used to reinforce a woman's subservience. After the Association des femmes tunisiennes pour la recherche et le développement and the Association tunisienne des femmes démocrates (ATFD) presented a document in which they demanded the full implementation of the agreement, the Tunisian government ratified the agreement on September 20, 1985. To mark the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the implementation of the Code of Personal Status (Tunisia), president Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali announced two Bills that were adopted by the Chamber of Deputies of Tunisia on May 8, 2007. The first reinforces the legal housing rights of mothers having custody of children, and the second establishes a minimum age for marriage, at 18 years, for both sexes despite the fact that the actual average age at marriage had already surpassed 25 years for women and 30 years for men. In matters related to motherhood, Tunisia is often considered as a country open to change. On the occasion of the announcement on March 8, 2008 that the government would adhere to an additional protocol of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, coinciding with the International Women's Day, the president of the ATFD, Khadija Cherif, described the process as "positive but insufficient" and said it would continue "to advocate for the lifting of reservations that emptied the Convention of its meaning". and August 13, the anniversary date of the implementation of the Code of Personal Status (Tunisia), which has become a public holiday called National Women's Day. Since September 2017, Tunisian Muslim women are allowed to marry non-Muslims, that would scrap the old decree which requires the husbands to convert to Islam in order to complete an inter-faith marriage. A desire for modernisation or a political necessity? In Tunisia, the pursuit of feminist politics is all the more necessary since it is the main support to the good image of the country in Europe. In effect, even though the Economic growth is not negligible, it does not stand out from other countries in North Africa such as Morocco; as well, the suppression of the free speech and the political opposition in Tunisia have long tarnished the country's reputation abroad. as the CSP was itself declared in an authoritarian manner, since it was not debated publicly or in the Tunisian Constituent Assembly. On February 9, 1994, a Tunisian Women's Day was organized by the Senate of France under the slogan "Une modernité assumée, la Tunisie" (in English: Tunisia: Embracing Modernity). in the Tunisian magazine Réalités for having shown her scepticism towards the supposed feminism of Islam during a television program broadcast in France in October 1994: On August 13, 2003, the 47th anniversary of the enactment of the CSP, the Ligue tunisienne des droits de l'homme (in English: Tunisian League of Human Rights) declared : == Fashion ==

Prior to the 2011 revolution, Tunisia restricted women's right to wear the hijab. Even though the population of Tunisia is 99% Muslim, and women in the Muslim world commonly wear hijabs, the governments of both Ben Ali and Habib Bourguiba pursued the eradication of public Islamic traditions, including hijab. In 1981 Habib Bourguiba ratified law no. 108 effectively banning Tunisian women from wearing hijab in state offices. In 1985, he went further and ratified law 108 extending this ban to educational establishments. During Ben Ali's regime, the government began cracking down on females wearing the hijab. In 2008, Amnesty International reported that women were forced to remove their hijab before being allowed into schools, universities, workplaces and some were even forced to remove it on the street. The report goes further stating that scarfed women were denied entry to the Tunis International Book Fair and at times were taken to police stations and made to sign a written commitment to stop wearing the hijab. "Some of those who refused were assaulted by police officers". ==Education==

Although these facts appear to put women in Tunisia on par with Western women, only 26% of women are employed as of 2021. Women's minimal participation in the work force does not derive from lack of education. In fact, 91% of Tunisian women, between the ages of 15 and 24, are literate. Young women represent 59.5% of students enrolled in higher education in Tunisia. In addition, the level of illiteracy for girls and women ages ten years and over dropped from 96% in 1956 to 58.1% in 1984, 42.3% in 1994 then 31% in 2004 (the level among men was 14.8% in 2004). The main reason behind this change has been the number of girls enrolled in primary education: 52 female students for every 100 male students in 1965; as well as the number of female students enrolled in secondary schools: 83 female students for every 100 male students in 1989, an increase from the level of 37 in 1965. Compared to the regional statistic, only 65% of MENA women are literate. More women are enrolled in secondary school (81%) than their male counterparts (75%). Women in Tunisia are also less likely than men to enter a career in business, economics or engineering. This phenomenon may be due to the disconnect between content learned in school and needed skills to participate in the labor force. ==Women's participation in the work force==

Women constitute 25% of the workforce of Tunisia in 2021, a decrease from 28% in 2015, an increase from 20.9% in 1989 and only 5.5% in 1966. Female participation and mobility in the labor force are constrained by the socially acceptable behavior of women in Tunisia and even laws. For example, women are discouraged or prohibited by family members from traveling far from home (in both rural and urban environments). Indeed, traveling alone is not an option for a woman or girl. Therefore, given that a job involves commuting, often alone, to the location of work, for women this is socially unacceptable and/or prohibited. Certain Tunisian laws restrict the type of work women participate in, the number of hours they work as well as require a woman's husband or father to approve of her job and hours worked. They work in all areas of business, as well as the Army, the Civil Aviation or Military and police From 1999 to 2004, job creation for women grew at a rate of 3.21%, to produce an average of 19,800 jobs per year.''' ==Post January 2011==

Immediately prior to the Tunisian revolution of 2011, women represented 14.89% of the government, 27.57% (59 of 214) of the elected members of the Chamber of Deputies elected on October 25, 2009, 27.06% of municipal councillors and 18% of the members of the Economic and Social Council. In 2017 a law was passed that, among other things, declared that men who had sex with underage girls would not be able to avoid being prosecuted by marrying those girls, changed the age of consent from 13 to 16, criminalized marital rape and sexual harassment, and made wage and work discrimination against women punishable by a fine of 2,000 Tunisian dinars ($817). Currently many Tunisian feminists are worried that the rights they enjoyed before the revolution may disappear as the power vacuum is infiltrated with religiously zealous ex-pats returning to the country. Women such as Munjiyah al-Sawaihi and Fawzia Zouari, known Tunisian feminists, are worried that the Tunisian revolution will follow the past examples of Algeria and Iran where women who played active roles during the revolutionary period, however, lost their voice and ability to participate in the public sphere when the new regimes established strict Sharia Law. ==Ennahda and women==

The Ennahda Movement is Tunisia's most popular Islamic party and the party with the largest number of seats in the Constituent Assembly. However, due to its foundation on Islamic thought, the party has gained the largest number of critics nationally and internationally, and specifically regarding women's rights. Since the 2011 revolution, the party stated the following in regards to Tunisian women and what would happen if they were to get elected: • The party would not legalize polygamy. In fact, the party leader stated that "polygamy has been determined to be illegal" in (their interpretation) of the shariah law. • Hijab will become legal in all areas of life in Tunisia, and will be a personal choice. • They will not amend the Status Code. In addition, the party voted in favor of full gender equality in the October Elections, and they were the most effective of all parties in mobilizing women in rural areas. Rural areas are commonly dominated by males in the Arab world. ==Marry-your-rapist law==

Until 2017, Article 227 of the Tunisia Criminal Code provided a rapist with exemption to avoid all investigations or legal consequences if he married his victim. Laws of this kind have been termed "marry-your-rapist" laws. There has been an increasing trend towards repealing laws providing this impunity, with Tunisia following suit in July 2017. Background Laws of this type are historically common and still exist around the globe. Tunisia is a nation that places great cultural importance on the chastity of women. In such cultures, the loss of chastity has significant societal consequences for the woman and her family; regardless of whether this violation has been non-consensual. Therefore, the rationale for marry-your-rapist laws, such as Article 227, is rooted in shielding the victim from the cultural shame of rape. Marriage is a way for the family to escape the "scandal" of what has occurred. Salma Nims, the secretary general of the Jordanian National Commission for Women, explained this state of affairs in saying, "a woman who is the victim of a sexual assault is actually considered responsible for the honour of the family and may have to get married to whoever assaulted her in order to protect that". Thus, Article 227 was aimed at providing a victim with the opportunity of a husband despite the cultural taboo of a loss of virginity. The Tunisian Government acknowledged that Article 227 was premised on striking a balance between the rights of the woman and those of the family. It was explained the law was motivated by consideration of the position of the victim and her family, however advantageous this may end up being for the perpetrator. Under Article 227, a victim must still consent to the marriage, with the option available to her to refuse the marriage. Issue has been raised with Article 227 as it assumes that the best remedy for a victim of rape is marriage, without consideration of her own rights to freedom, dignity and autonomy. Article 227 has also been condemned as providing immunity to rapists by encouraging private settlements between the victim's family and the rapist rather than reporting of the crime for prosecution. While the victim has the option to refuse the marriage, there may be significant pressure from her family to accept the marriage for provisional reasons, particularly in the case of the rape resulting in pregnancy. A fellow judge in the case made comment on the judgment, calling article 227 an antiquated law but accepting it must be applied. This decision ignited protests of public outrage in Tunisia calling for the revocation of article 227. Reform following public outcry for repeal has been seen worldwide, with Tunisia joining countries such as Lebanon, Costa Rica, Uruguay, Peru, Romania and France that have repealed marry-your-rapist laws. In the vein of protestor's arguments against Article 227, Parliament recognised in this legislative reform that psychological violence constitutes a form of violence against women. The law was carefully drafted over six months due to the social importance of such a change that has been advocated by activists for decades. Tunisian Parliament is unique as more than 30% of representatives are women, the highest female representation of any Arab country. Upon passage of the legislative reform, parliamentarians broke into cheers and chants of the Tunisian national anthem. The comprehensive law has been heralded as revolutionary, predicted to break significant ground in addressing women's rights issues in Tunisia. However, commentators on the new reform have still voiced concerns that the legislation does not go far enough to address violence against women. Issue has been raised for the continuance of the social practice of marrying a victim to her rapist despite the legal abolition of a perpetrator's impunity. Due to the cultural stigma attached to rape in Tunisia, families may still view an arrangement of marriage as the favoured, more private solution. Experts consider legal abolition of marry-your-rapist laws only the first step in truly eradicating the occurrence of this practice. It has been said that raising social awareness of equality of women at the community level is required in conjunction with legal reform. Amnesty International voiced concern that Tunisian institutions still lacked adequate services to provide protection for child victims with the continued social practice of marrying the victim to her rapist. As a child is legally considered an adult once married, there is no ability for a child protection delegate to intercede to advocate for the child's continued medical or psychological care. However, as there is also stigma attached to psychological treatment, families of the victim will rarely make this provision for the child of their own accord. Therefore, some commentators on the abolition of marry-your-rapist laws in Tunisia consider there needs to be a conjunctive improvement to protective services for child victims of sexual violence in addition to the repeal of article 227. == See also ==

• Tunisie. Histoire de femmes, film de Feriel Ben Mahmoud, Alif Productions, Paris, 2005 == External links ==