| Summary/Abstract |
The role of women in the 2011 wave of protests, demonstrations and riots — nicknamed “the Arab Spring” by the Western media1 — was crucial, but many observers have started wondering whether women's postrevolutionary status will reflect their invaluable contribution. In Tunisia, women have enjoyed and practiced numerous rights since the 1950s. The various measures the state enacted to achieve gender equality have placed the country at the top position in the region with respect to women's rights. While this study acknowledges the impressive Tunisian record and the revolutionary role of Habib Bourguiba, later reinforced by Zine El Abidine Bin Ali, it draws attention to a grim reality. Not only did the two rulers coopt women's organizations into the state and punish feminist dissent; they also used the woman card to please the West and bargain with the Islamists, bolstering those rights when they wanted to weaken the Islamic movement, and ignoring them when they sought to appease it. It is this dependence on the Ben Ali regime and the rise of political Islam that have posed the most serious challenges to women in Tunisia since the Jasmine Revolution of 2011.
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