Women’s movements in Tunisia

Résumé ou Introduction

Tunisian women’s movements are anything but homogenous. Grassroots women’s movements and new forms of feminism have been competing against a top-down feminist project promoted by the state. Hence, tensions between the different understandings of a women’s rights agendas have clashed, making room for new conceptions of Tunisian womanhood, resistance, and empowerment. The dichotomy between “contemporality” and “tradition” might have hindered women’s collective empowerment and the formation of an all-encompassing movement. Nevertheless, Tunisian women are still capable and encouraged to build bridges between the diverse women’s projects and continue to demand tangible gender equality, especially concerning decision-making positions. This diversity in perceptions, as well as the enthusiasm to prove the compatibility between a women’s project seeking gender equality and Islamic tradition, constitute one of the most valuable potentials of Tunisian women’s movements. This might even result promising for the women’s cause in the first place, considering that there is sufficient common ground among the intrinsic principles and objectives of women’s movements around the world. Other women’s movements in the phase of consolidation can thus learn important lessons from the Tunisian example.

The following segments will briefly recapitulate some of the most relevant historical milestones of Tunisian history while acknowledging their interconnection with the evolution of Tunisian women’s movements over the decades. Special attention will be drawn to the consolidation of grassroots, state-independent women’s movements in post-revolution Tunisia, and to the necessity of reconciling the heretofore contesting women’s projects. This, with the motivation to understand: what challenges have Tunisian women’s movements faced thus far and what perspectives do they have to build a more consolidated project?