Abstract :
The Tunisian government, since independence in 1956, has been a major factor in creating and maintaining space for the women’s movement both in the domestic and political spheres. The state has been the chief agent of change, not only in introducing legislation, but also in seeking to alter the productive and reproductive roles of women (Murphy, 2003) – a process which has been mirrored in other states throughout the Middle East under the blanket term of “state-sponsored feminism” (Murphy, 2003, p. 169; Brand, 1998, p. 9). The process of “instigation from above” (Hatem, 1999, p. 78) has both secured the state’s support of women’s right as well as transformed gender into a political instrument. The women’s movement in Tunisia enjoys the ideological and financial backing of the government, and has become part of a political strategy to enhance the legitimacy of the state. In short, the caprices (and benevolence) of President Ben Ali’s ruling Rassemblement Constitutionnel Démocratique (Constitutional Democratic Rally, RCD) have come to define the scope and magnitude of the rights of women, a process through which the feminist agenda has become closely (and dangerously) tied to the ruling party’s political agenda
