Code of Personal Status (Tunisia) - Previous Political Action

Previous Political Action

Taking the lead in Tunisia's modernization campaign, Habib Bourguiba in each of his speeches found occasion to criticize sexist attitudes, opposing the hijab and appealing to science on the issue of virginity at marriage. Tunisian women hearing his call unveiled and often asked him to settle disputes with their husbands. His ruling always inclined in favour of women and "made him all through the long decade of the sixties their tireless defender."

It is necessary to know that Bourguiba always worshipped his mother, who died prematurely, according to the chief of state, in 1913. In several of his speeches, memory of her returned and the exhaustion born of the double function of the spouse and the mother contributed to his denunciation of the feminine condition in traditional Tunisian society. Although his declaration can be considered sincere—other expositions indeed demonstrate a certain hostility to the period's domestic tradition—it is to be recalled that his mother's memory played no fundamental role in his political positions concerning the feminine condition during the French protectorate.

In this context, on the eve of independence there did not really exist a political movement strictly based on the demand for the rights of women. Existing institutions sustained political parties, and although these rights were the subject of speeches, they were not then among political priorities. The Union of women and the Union of girls belonging to the Communist party agitated especially in the social and labour domains. As for the Muslim union and the cells destourian women created in 1951-1952, they did not begin to call for the right to vote and eligibility for office until 1955. These two rights became official on March 14, 1957 and Tunisian women voted for the first time in municipal elections in May 1959 and later in the presidential and legislative elections of November 1959. But the right to education remained the only one unanimously sought by feminine organizations. From this point of view, the Code was not promulgated under any feminist pressure, that, when it existed, was usually directed to other ideals.