RELIGIOUS AFFAIRS (12) TUNISIA: Government to Extend Womens Rights
LONDON, Nov 13 (IPS) - The Tunisian government has announced its intention to extend womens' rights and their participation in the nation's decision-making process, it was announced here at a conference being held by Tunisian women's organisations.
The conference trumpeted the achievements of Tunisia's women's movement and underlined both the government's intentions to take it further and to use its successes as a bulwark against the fundamentalist struggle both at home and in nearby Algeria.
In a thinly veiled reference to the fundamentalist movement, Tunisia's Ambassador to London Mohammed Lessir warned there were still "dinosaurs in some countries who fear women's integration in society and want to enslave all women in the name of religion".
"We strongly believe that Islam never prevented women from playing their full role in society. The aim, however, is to adapt Sharia Law to the concept of modern life -- without departing from the values of Islam," was how Dalel Krishen put it as she addressed delegates at the conference.
She is head of the Sfax branch of the 100,000 member-strong National Union of Tunisian Women. It is the second largest city in the country after the capital, Tunis.
A beacon for women's rights in the Arab world, Tunisia laid down laws governing divorce, family planning and the education of women at the very outset of its birth as a modern nation in 1956 -- the year it gained independence from France.
In return for the crucial role played by women in pushing the French out of the country, former president Habib Bourguiba formulated the Personal Status Code which abolished polygamy and compulsory marriage, set a legal age for marriage and instituted divorce laws that went some way towards a fairer deal for women.
Amendments to the Code under President Ben Ali have expanded women's control in matters of marriage, divorce, and domestic violence -- a requirement for the mother as well as the father to give consent to a daughter under 17 to marry.
These gains should be set against the background of total suppression that existed at the beginning of this century.
"Women had no right to ownership of property nor divorce, and polygamy and segregation were prevalent -- this is what the code must be measured against," points out Marie-Louise Makris of the British National Alliance of Women's Organisations.
© Inter Press Service (2014) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service