Equal or complementary? Women in the new Tunisian Constitution after the Arab Spring

Dados Bibliográficos

ID3978852
AutoresMounira M Charrad (The University of Texas at Austin, autor correspondente), Amina Zarrugh (0000-0003-4277-4656, The University of Texas at Austin)
Ano2014
Volume19
Fascículo2
Páginas230-243
Data de publicação2014-03-15
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessNão
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoThe Journal of North African Studies (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 1362-9387 • E-ISSN: 1743-9345
EditoraInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/13629387.2013.857276
OpenAlexW2039948767
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas38
Referências citadas17

The Arab Spring has inaugurated a new form of politics that represents a shift from a 'politics from above' to a 'politics from below' in regard to gender policy in Tunisia. Discourse surrounding state policy on gender, formerly the purview of elite groups, has recently been shaped and driven by popular organisations and associations. This article draws on Habermas to argue that the shift has been facilitated by the emergence of a new public sphere and engaged civil society following the fall of the Zine El Abidine Ben Ali regime in 2011. To demonstrate the emergence and diversity of Tunisian civil society, we focus on the promulgation of a new constitution and the debate surrounding Article 28, which has been contested by some Tunisians as reducing women's status to 'complementary'. A discussion of women's status in the history of Tunisian family law, especially in the popularly valorised Code of Personal Status, illustrates how women's rights were historically expanded as a top-down policy or 'politics from above'. We juxtapose this historical context with the present period of transition and constitution writing since 2011. An examination of quotations from Tunisian women, both opponents and supporters of Article 28, demonstrates the shift in Tunisia from a 'politics from above' to a 'politics from below' as women's groups are making demands upon the state and voicing their concerns in ways that have profoundly influenced the tenor of debates around gender politics in the country

Constitution · Context (archaeology · Elite · Parliament · Political science · Politics · Promulgation · Public sphere · Sociology · State (computer science · Gender Politics and Representation · Gender Studies · History · Islamic Studies and History · Law · Multiculturalism, Politics, Migration, Gender