AL JAZEERA
A controversial poll by the Thomson Reuters Foundation on the status of women in Arab countries has stirred debate in Tunisia, long seen as the Arab world’s leader in women’s rights.
Greater religious freedom after the 2011 revolution and the rise to power of an Islamist party have raised complex questions about how these issues should be addressed in the new Tunisia.
While the poll addressed a multitude of issues relating to women’s rights, critics argue its breadth came at the expense of country-specific nuances and, at times, factual accuracy.
The poll notably ranked Egypt as last among 22 countries surveyed on women’s rights. Tunisia fared well in the poll, ranking sixth overall. Readers were quick to call out the foundation for errors, citing Tunisia’s longstanding legal protections for women.
The foundation initially stated that “polygamy remains widespread in Tunisia and contraception is illegal” in the country.
Tunisia officially banned polygamy under its 1956 Personal Status Code, making it the first country in the Arab world to do so. The code was amended in 1973 to legalise abortion. Contraception is legal and available.
The code granted women a range of rights that were not yet seen in many other countries. It required the consent of both parties to marriage and raised the minimum marriage age for girls to 17. It also gave women the right to file for divorce and abolished the “unilateral repudiation” on the part of the husband. Prior to the code, a man was able to divorce his wife by simply uttering “I repudiate thee”.
Tunisia signed the UN Convention to Eliminate All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in 1980, and ratified it in 1985. However, the Tunisian government made a number of reservations on the convention, stating that it would not comply with decisions contradicting Article 1 of the Tunisian constitution, which declares Islam the country’s religion.
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