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Since the January 2011 revolution in Tunisia and protests across North Africa and the Middle East region (MENA) began, many Western news sources have published articles discussing the unprecedented role that Tunisian women played in the protests. Many of these articles highlight some of the secular freedoms instituted by Habib Bourguiba in 1956, such as access to higher education, the right to file for divorce, and certain job opportunities.In fact, he made these reforms while still declaring that Tunisia was an Islamic State. It is true that women in Tunisia have enjoyed these freedoms and rights, rights that are often denied to women in neighboring countries. However, women in Tunisia live within an oscillating society that at times encourages strict abidance to Islamic law.

Demographics

As of 2008, the U.S. Population Reference Bureau reported the female population, between the ages of 15 and 49, in Tunisia to be 3,000,000 . By 2015, there will be 3,100,000 women of the same age bracket in the country . The life expectancy for women, from birth, is 76 years (men in Tunisia have a life expectancy of 72 years).

History

When Tunisia was still a colony of France, the majority of Tunisian women were veiled, 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 twentieth century, many urban families were educating their daughters . When Tunisia gained its independence in 1956, the country’s founder—Habib Bourguiba—discussed repeatedly the need to include all persons in Tunisian society .

In 1956, The Code of Personal Status 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 . Moreover, women earned the right to vote in 1957 and in 1959, women were able to seek office . The Constitution of Tunisia promulgates “the principle of equality” which has been applied favorably for women within the judiciary system, enabling them to enter untraditional job sectors (for example medicine, the army and engineering) as well as open bank accounts and establish businesses . In 1962, women were able to access birth control and by 1965, abortion was legalized (8 years before American women gained access).

In 1993, feminists and women’s organizations’ lobbying efforts resulted in certain modifications to The Personal Status Code. 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.

Education

Although these facts appear to put women in Tunisia on par with Western women, only 30% of women are employed. 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 . 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%) . Although, Tunisian girls have a high enrollment rate, many girls drop out during or after they complete their primary education. Tunisia’s enrollment rates for girls are higher than its surrounding neighbors, including Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, Syria, Yemen, and even Lebanon and Jordan . 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

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 . The World Bank found that women in Tunisia and the surrounding region (MENA) do not use the same job search methods as men of the same region. Women are significantly less likely to use networking with a friend or contact an employer directly to obtain employment . The World Bank research found that women struggle with finding a suitable working environment because they fear sexual harassment and working long hours . Within the MENA region, the Tunisian government offers the shortest amount of time for maternal leave for women (30 days) . Separate maternity leave laws apply to women who work in the public or private industry. Women who work as civil servants or public employees have 60 days of maternity leave while those women who work in the private industry only receive 30 days .In comparison, The Family and Medical Leave Act, in the United States, enables mothers (and fathers) to take up to 12 weeks (84 days) of maternity leave .

Post January 2011

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 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 .