Tunisian Women in the “Arab Spring”: The Singularity of Article 46 in the 2014 Constitution

The “Arab Spring” that began in Tunisia has provided the context for women to gain a number of victories. The adoption of the parity law, for which women have been struggling for more than two decades, opened the door of the Constituent Assembly to women wearing the hijab who had been previously excluded from participating in public life and formal politics, and enabled women to participate in writing the new Constitution. Tunisia lifted its reservations to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in 2014. Finally, the government voted for Article 46 of the 2014 Constitution, which affirms women’s rights and obliges the State to take the steps necessary to consolidate these rights, to guarantee equality of opportunity between men and women to attain decision-making positions, to achieve parity between women and men in elected bodies, and to eradicate violence against women. How did this happen? How can we explain the singular nature of these achievements? My discussion here will look back on women’s struggles in Tunisia to see how they moved the country towards adopting Article 46 of the 2014 Tunisian Constitution.