WUNRN
Tunisia
- Gender Equality - Forward or Backward?
By Aya Chebbi - 01 October 2014
Since
the early 20th century, Tunisian women played a key role in securing the
independence of their country. August 13, 1956, marked the promulgation of the
Code of Personal Status (CPS) that included progressive laws aiming at the
institution of gender equality.
The Code is known for abolishing polygamy, creating a judicial procedure for
divorce, the regulation of family law, marriage, social security, and abortion,
among other issues. At the time, it also gave women a status that allows them
to create their own businesses, have a bank account and the ability to have
their own passports.
The Tunisian woman then, has been portrayed and perceived in the region as
independent and emancipated. This image has been well used by both former
presidents, constituting a main argument for the country's favorable image in
the West, because the suppression of free expression and political opposition
tarnished the country's reputation abroad. Under Bourguiba's administration,
However, the Code itself was promulgated in an authoritarian manner, as it
wasn't the object of public debate, or considered in a constituent assembly.
So, the leadership’s reputed modernist conviction masked its democratic
deficit.
Moreover, the same progressive Code still contains discriminatory provisions
that make women “second-class citizens” in their families. For instance,
Article 58 of the CPS gives judges the discretion to grant custody to either
the mother or the father based on the best interests of the child, but
prohibits a mother to have her children live with her if she has remarried. No
such restriction applies to fathers.
As in
many conflicts, women and children are the major victims. During the 2011
Tunisian revolution, women have been subjected to all kinds of violence. A
woman’s body has become a threat to her life. Following the overthrown of the
former regime, the violence escalated to the kidnapping, raping, trafficking
and sexual harassment of girls. Men had even joked about it on Facebook,
posting: "The girls that will not be kidnapped today means they're not
pretty enough"!
Since the spark of the uprising, women have been frontline protesters,
journalists, photographers, volunteers, elections observers, bloggers, and
campaigners despite the violence they have to endure. The police, for instance,
was taking advantage of the chaos to sexually harass women on account of them
being protesters, journalists or detainees. Police might even share their
violence to the victim as was the case in September 2012, when a woman
had been arrested and charged with public indecency because she had been raped
by two police officers! So,
A few weeks after the National Constituent Assembly elections, Souad
Abderrahim, the “non-veiled” spokeswoman of the Islamic party Ennahda, said
that “single mothers are a disgrace to Tunisians and do not have the right to
exist”. She added: “In Arab-Muslim customs and traditions in
For a country that glows like a beacon of women's progress in
On the one hand,
The
CPS, in many cases, has been used by the male counterpart as a “perfect and
complete” paper although it dates back to the independence days! Women’s rights
should not only be guaranteed by the CSP but also by the right to education,
security, health and employment. The notion of “the most progressive” code in
the region doesn’t reflect the reality when it’s lagging far behind neighboring
Morocco that has tens of shelters for women, while Tunisia is struggling to
sustainably establish its first shelter.
Only in last April
Finally, both women and men have to protect women and help them understand that
they are born with compromised rights and freedoms. When we talk about gender
equality, we usually talk exclusively about women and we forget that gender
includes men and women. Gender-based violence, for instance, is mainly about
empowering women and exclude the essential contribution of men as perpetrators
of violence in most cases. Engaging in creating male awareness of gender issues
can let men question their involvement in the problem and in doing so, bring
about gender equality.