Women’s Political Citizenship in Tunisia: The May 2018 Municipal Elections and the Gender Gap

Abstract

The 2018 municipal elections in Tunisia were the first to be held after the 2011 Arab Spring revolution. A new 2017 law required gender parity on electoral lists, even for positions at the top of those lists. However, women were wary of being thrust into the political fray, and many felt they were being tokenized. What is the possibility of a new generation of female politicians emerging in such a context? To uncover the factors and motivations behind the transition from non-participation to participation, I interviewed six women candidates of different political parties and conducted a focus group with eight Tunisian women who professed to be “not interested in politics”. Compulsory gender parity might foster women’s political participation in quantitative terms, but qualitatively, especially with the tokenizing male practice of nominating women candidates and expecting their “docile compliance,” this policy effectively maintains and reinforces gendered stereotypes about political competence. My findings show that women move back and forth across the spectrum from “high participation” to “politically disengaged”. Furthermore, their relationship to political participation is best described as a cyclical process marked by punctual commitments and which can be hindered by internal and external factors or periods of hibernation.