WUNRN
Via Women's eNews
TUNISIA - WOMEN PLAY IMPORTANT ROLE
IN REVOLUTION
Martin Bureau /AFP/Getty
Images
A woman participates in
a demonstration in
January 27, 2011
Female voices rang out
loud and clear during massive protests that brought down the authoritarian rule
of Tunisian President Zine el Abidine Ben Ali.
Women in
In
Hardly anyone wears the
Muslim headscarf in the capital, and women seem to be everywhere, taking part
in everything, alongside men.
'Free And More
Civilized'
Irgui Najet, 36, argues
with a group of men on the sidewalk, defending the country's provisional
leaders. She does more than hold her own. The men are so impressed with her
knowledge, they tell her she should run for president. No one seems to think
being a woman is a hindrance.
Najet, a criminal
lawyer, explains the difference between Tunisian women and their sisters in the
rest of the Arab world.
"We feel more free
and more civilized than other Arab women," she says. "And especially
since our revolution, we pity the women in neighboring countries. Look at
Soon Najet meets up with
her lawyer colleagues and everyone is absorbed in heady conversation about
Just
look at how Tunisian women stood side-by-side with Tunisian men. They came out
to the streets to protest in headscarves. They came out in miniskirts. It
doesn't matter. They were there.
-
Lawyer Bilel Larbi
Tunisian
women have the same rights to divorce as men, and polygamy is illegal. Women
here have had access to birth control since 1962 and have had access to
abortion since 1965 — eight years before Roe
v. Wade gave American women the same right.
Many Tunisian women now
say they are concerned about the potential return of Islamist parties banned
under Ben Ali. But Asma Belkassem, a 31-year-old lawyer, says she's not scared.
"What is sure is
that we women have rights in
Tunisian women credit a
1956 civil rights code for their many freedoms and equality, as well as an
excellent education system that is open to all.
They also thank former
President Habib Bourguiba, their founding father who led the independence
struggle from
'Women Will Remain
Vigilant'
Khadija Cherif, a long-time
feminist activist, says Ben Ali pretended to support women's rights to please
the West. The return of Islamist parties to Tunisian politics could pose a
threat, she says, but women will remain vigilant.
Eleanor Beardsley/NPR
Irgui Najet stands in
front of the Bar Association. Women in
"The
force of the Tunisian feminist movement is that we've never separated it from
the fight for democracy and a secular society," she says. "We will
continue our combat, which is to make sure that religion remains completely
separate from politics."
Back at the courthouse,
lawyer Bilel Larbi has joined his female colleagues. He says the best way to
measure relations between the sexes in
"Just look at how
Tunisian women stood side-by-side with Tunisian men," he says. "They
came out to the streets to protest in headscarves. They came out in miniskirts.
It doesn't matter. They were there."
Larbi says after rising
up to overthrow the dictator together, Tunisian men aren't about to let anyone
take away the freedoms of Tunisian women.