Abstract
From the time when women's rights were not placed high on the agenda of any state to the time when women's rights are given top priority, Tunisia's gender-friendly legislation requires a fresher look. One would be forgiven for thinking that Tunisia's reforms started after they gained independence from France in the 1950's. In fact, it was during the French Protectorate that reformers started rumours of reform, arguing amongst other issues for affording women more rights than those they were granted under sharia law, which governed family law in Tunisia. After gaining its independence, Tunisia promulgated the Code of Personal Status, which was considered a radical departure from the sharia. It is considered to be the first women-friendly legislation promulgated in the country. It could be argued that Tunisian family law underwent, four waves of reform. The first wave started during the French Protectorate. The second wave started in the 1950's with the codification of Tunisia's family law, which introduced women-friendly legislation. The third wave started in the 1990's with changes to the Code of Personal Status, and the latest wave commenced in 2010. In this article, I analyse the initial, pioneering phases of the reforms resulting from the actions of a newly formed national state interested in building a free society at the end of colonial rule, as well as reforms that have taken place in the modern state since the Arab uprising in Tunisia. As a result of the various waves of reforms, I argue that Tunisia should be seen as the vanguard of women-friendly legislation in the Arab world.
Highlights
Before independence, Tunisian society was based on the concept of the family and relied on behavioural attitudes stemming from a strong loyalty to one's social grouping and class, to the point that governing bodies were formed along those lines.[1]
It was during the French Protectorate that reformers started rumours of reform, arguing amongst other issues for affording women more rights than those they were granted under sharia law, which governed family law in Tunisia
Despite the modernisation of the legislation relating to women's rights, remnants of the old patriarchal structures exist, and the cultural tendency to hold that males are superior to females is a reality
Summary
Tunisian society was based on the concept of the family and relied on behavioural attitudes stemming from a strong loyalty to one's social grouping and class, to the point that governing bodies were formed along those lines.[1] The traditional Tunisian family was socially “central” in so far as the greater part of social dynamics were centred on it.[2] Objectively, the major articulations of society were lineages.[3] The state was formed by one of these lineages, and the group tended to be organised like a family.[4] For the individual, the family was the group to which the individual owed life, identity, and social legitimacy It was the outlet for the individual’s needs and the mediator, if not the sphere of application, of the individual’s values. I argue that Tunisia can be viewed as one of the most progressive Muslim countries in promulgating women-friendly legislation
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