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TUNISIA - FEMINISM VS. ISLAMISM

 

Crucible of Arab Spring tries to reconcile its two modern revolutions

 

Tunisian Islamist movement members participate in a rally in Tunis December 17, 2013

Tunisian Islamist movement members participate in a rally in Tunis December 17, 2013, to mark the third anniversary of the Tunisian revolution. Photo by Reuters

By Zvi Bar'el | Dec. 31, 2013

 

 

“The laws equalizing women’s rights to those of men only encourage prostitution,” declares Umm Amana, a Tunisian woman who won’t disclose her full name, in an interview with the London-based Arabic newspaper Al-Hayat. “The purpose of these laws is to exploit women’s bodies in exchange for false freedom.”

Umm Amana belongs to the fundamentalist Salafi community in Tunisia, so it’s no wonder she opposes the laws for gender equality, passed back in 1956 right after Tunisia declared its independence. These laws, which are the most progressive in the Arab world, are perceived by orthodox Muslim women, and Salafists in particular, as detrimental to their faith and way of life. These laws deal with women’s status, forbidding polygamy and giving women full control over their children in the event of their husbands’ death. The minimum age for marriage is set at 17, and requires the woman’s consent. In 1981 another law was passed, forbidding women to cover their heads in public institutions or universities. Health centers in Tunisia distribute birth control pills for free.

But what about those women who wanted to wear a veil, seeing their husbands as the ultimate authority, and who wanted to attend universities with their heads covered? They found themselves not only in violation of the law, but were often chased by policewomen who tore off their head coverings. They were suspected of belonging to Islamist terror organizations and were either shunned or harassed by their neighbors, sometimes with it ending in rape or murder.

Three years after the revolution in Tunisia, the situation of these women has not really improved, despite the victory of the Islamist Ennahda party. Women wearing veils are still not allowed to enter university classrooms. Even though the law permits this, lecturers and university presidents encourage the removal of veils. “The veil is not commensurate with the image of Tunisia and its universities,” declared the Supreme Science Council, which oversees academic institutions. Iman Al-Tariki, who heads a non-profit religious civil rights organization called “Freedom and Equality,” says Salafist women are abused and threatened when they walk down the street wearing a veil. Her organization has documented dozens of instances of physical assaults against these women, including a case in which a boy was kidnapped by a gang that threatened to rape his sister if she did not remove her veil.

Jihadi weddings

A woman who turned to Al-Tariki’s organization reported that when she went to a hospital for gynecological treatment she was accused of getting married in a “jihadi wedding ceremony” and of not being a virgin. “I needed to go to a private doctor to obtain a document certifying that I was a virgin,” she was quoted as saying. The term “jihadi wedding” was recently coined in Syria following a religious ruling calling on Muslim women from around the Arab world to come to Syria and “marry” combatants who are unable to start families due to the war. Following this, rumors spread of Tunisian women who did so and returned home pregnant. Vehement denials from Tunisia were of no avail, and the term “jihadi wedding” stuck, applying mainly to veiled women, who are in any case suspected of working for Islamist organizations.

Last month the media and information firm Thomson Reuters published a detailed report on the status of women in the Arab world. In the 22 countries surveyed, Egypt ranked last, while Tunisia was in sixth place. This report infuriated people in Tunisia. Human rights organizations complained that many of the report’s findings, such as that polygamy is common and birth control banned, contradict the true state of affairs in the country. The report’s writers corrected these statements.

The respectable showing of Tunisia in this report, relative to other Arab countries, cannot help secular or orthodox women subject to harassment by citizens or the authorities. A report by the Tunisian Interior Ministry states that over the last year 7,861 women filed complaints of abuse, with 46 reported cases of death. Some were abused by policemen and policewomen, and some died in detention after being tortured. It is likely that the true number of assaults is much larger, since many women are afraid of filing complaints.

‘Fight terror, not human rights’

Tunisia is far from having neutralized these issues. Its new government will have to prove it can overcome these tensions, then try to advance a new constitution that will accommodate the demands of Ennahda and its supporters. Or, as Al-Tariki says, the new government “has to remember that fighting terror does not mean a battle against human rights.”

Beyond formal legislation, the new leadership will have to contend with day to day practical issues - including the rise in harassment of secular people. In addition to cases of abuse of fundamentalist women, there are now reports of secular people being threatened by religious groups and by gangs taking on a religious role. For example, a school principal in Djerba said he recently received a letter instructing him to demand that female teachers cover their heads - “otherwise we’ll catch you in the street and break your bones.”