This paper analyzes the development of the feminist movement in Tunisia which went through three phases: the early period from the 1920s to 1956 when the country obtained its independence. Women had very little education, then. Some privileged women formed branches of the prevailing nationalist, socialist or religious movements. They were going to start progressively their feminist quest for equality.
The second period (1956-1970s) saw the promulgation of the Code of Personal Status by Habib Bourguiba; this family code abolished polygamy and repudiation, established judicial divorce and declared women’s equality with men. The National Union of Tunisian Women was also founded by the President. That was the beginning of a State feminism.
The third period started in the 1970s: new generations of women were questioning the weaknesses of the Code of Personal Status. These women were scholars who met to discuss the discriminations they faced as women in spite of their privileged status compared to their sisters in the rest of the Arab world. They were to form autonomous organizations that obtained recognition two years after Zinelabidine Ben Ali took over the Tunisian Presidency in 1989. These organizations are striving to inform women of their rights and of pushing the government to adopt a secular policy, in particular by allowing a woman to inherit the same share as a man.
Keywords: | Feminism, State Feminism, Code of Personal Status, Equality, Secular, The Autonomous Feminist Movement |
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The International Journal of the Humanities, Volume 4, Issue 8, pp.53-60. Article: Print (Spiral Bound). Article: Electronic (PDF File; 1.853MB).