TUNISIA – Constitution clause on women’s roles causes anger

THE United Nations working group on discrimination against women in law and practice is urging the Tunisian government to take necessary actions to safeguard the country’s achievements in gender equality, non-discrimination and women’s rights, in accordance to its international human rights obligations.

 

The draft constitution, formulated by a constituent assembly dominated by Islamists, is due to be ratified in a referendum next year. Talks on the exact wording are continuing between the Ennahda party-led government – elected after the overthrow of dictator Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali last year – and activists.

 

Article 28 assigns women “a complementary role inside the family,” which many claim places women on an unequal footing with men and does not consider them as independent individuals.

 

According to the working group, women in Tunisia have long enjoyed an admired position in a region where much remains to be done to protect and promote women’s human rights, this is thanks in part to previous efforts by the women’s movement and the Government’s adoption in 1956 of the Code of Personal Status, which contained progressive laws on equality between men and women.