Tunisian women's fight for their rights goes back a long way. But this fight became organized and institutionalized starting in the 19th century, when Arab reformists, nourished by certain principles of freedom drawn from the Quran, took an interest in Enlightenment thought.
The history of Tunisia is often intertwined with the fate of its women. From Alyssa to the Amazons of modern times, by way of Lella Manoubia, patron saint of the outskirts of Tunis, Fatma El Fehri, a Kairouan native who founded the University of Al Quaraouiyine in Fez, or Princess Aziza Othmana, every family has carried within it exceptional women. Their names fade into oblivion as time passes, but their DNA is imprinted on the social fabric and shapes it, come what may.
The Feminist Fight: The Beginnings of a Movement
The defense of the feminine cause takes its first steps in Europe, Turkey, and Egypt. In Tunisia, minister Kheireddine, a major figure of the Tunisian reformist movement, called as early as 1856 for the education of women and advocated reconciling Western contributions with Islam. The international context was favorable to women's emancipation in Arab and Muslim countries, although conservatives opposed reforms as radical as those of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the first leader of a Muslim state to adopt a republican and secular system. As early as 1930, the Tunisian trade unionist and author Tahar Haddad raised, in his work Our Woman in the Eyes of Society and Religion, the question of women's personal status before public opinion. He advocated total equality between men and women, including in matters of inheritance*, thereby stirring the anger of conservatives.
* The Quran speaks of a moral and material responsibility of men toward their families. With the exception of the qiwama verse, all verses relating to guardianship uphold notions of justice among believers, shared parental responsibility, and sharing within the family, regardless of gender. The interpretation of male superiority appears to stem more from political instrumentalization.
This anger would also be provoked by another man: Habib Bourguiba, first president of the Tunisian Republic. He would be behind the promulgation of the CSP (Personal Status Code) in 1956. This code, revolutionary for its time but since frozen in place, replaced religious courts with secular ones. It granted women the right to request divorce, abolishing repudiation, polygamy, forced marriage, and so on. A year later, women were granted the right to vote and to run in municipal elections**.
** The graves of both leaders would be desecrated after the 2011 revolution by Islamist extremists, apparently still opposed to the reforms these two men had proposed and established.
Between 1930 and 1955, local newspapers, aware of their historic responsibility, published numerous articles about dowries, polygamy, the wearing of the veil, the education of girls, women's right to vote…
Also read:The Duty to Be a Feminist
THE BATTLE OF THE VEIL
At the start of the 20th century, the veil was synonymous with submission. It crystallized all the battles of the moment. It was seen as an obstacle to the emancipation of women seeking to free themselves from the patriarchal grip. Habiba Menchari and Manoubia Ouertani were the first to publicly remove theirs, in 1924 and 1929 respectively, scandalizing conservatives who lamented these obvious signs of women's education and Western influence. The sartorial battle had begun.
Paradoxically, nowadays, wearing the veil has become a feminist demand, just as much as removing it. So I will not align myself with its detractors, even though I understand certain reservations. Some people see it as a sign of women's submission and a Wahhabization of our society. I believe the battle over the veil should be ours before it becomes that of the obscurantists. Above all, this is about a woman's right to control her own body (and in this case, her clothing choices) without having to bear the weight of an outside opinion — certainly not that of some man who would force her to cover her head. Whether or not to wear the veil is a choice, and it absolutely must remain a free one. Let us make sure it stays that way. Anything else is just empty talk.
THE REVOLUTION OF JANUARY 14, 2011
After the fall of the November regime, there was a massive return of political exiles. They belonged, for the most part, to the Muslim Brotherhood movement. A conservative wave hit the country head-on. Or perhaps it merely woke a sleeping troll? Numerous feminist and humanist NGOs, along with civil society, organized themselves to resist any possible backsliding. They fought to lift the State's reservations on the United Nations convention. But also for the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women. They campaigned for the constitutionalization of women's rights and demanded a new, democratic, egalitarian Constitution. Does this mean there is reason to feel reassured?
Nothing could be less certain. The fight goes on!
