Code of Personal Status (Tunisia) - Current Situation

Current Situation

In the matrimonial domain, Tunisia remains often considered as a state open to the advances of the modern world. We should know that Tunisia celebrates two days dedicated to women: March 8, International Woman's Day and August 13, anniversary of the Code's promulgation which became a holiday, "National Woman's Day." On the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the Code, the president announced two legal projects which were adopted by the Chambers of Deputies on May, 2007. The first strengthened the residence law to the benefit of mothers caring for children and the second harmonized the minimum marriage age to eighteen years for both sexes; the mean marriage age had reached 25 for women and 30 for men.

Concretely, Tunisian women are very involved in society, as they represent 58.1 per cent of students in higher education. They work in all trades, in the army, in civil and military aviation and in the police. They represent 72 per cent of pharmacy workers, 42 per cent in medicine, 27 per cent of magistrates, 31 per cent of lawyers and 40 per cent of university professors. In total, in 2004 they constituted 26.6 per cent of the work force, although in 1989 they had only represented 20.9 per cent and a mere 5.5 per cent in 1966. Furthermore, from 1999 to 2004 job creation grew 3.21 per cent for women, with an average of 19,000 created each year. Moreover, the illiteracy rate of women ten years and older passed from 96.6 per cent in 1956 to 58.1 per cent in 1984 to 42.3 per cent in 1994 to 31 per cent in 2004; the masculine rate in 2004 was 21.2 per cent. This is explained primarily by the fact that the number of girls per one hundred boys in primary school was 52 in 1965 and 83 in 1989. Furthermore, in the absence of the equity law, they represented 14.89 per cent of the members of government, 22.75 per cent (43 of 189) of the deputies of the House elected on October 24, 2004, 27.06 per cent of municipal councillors and 18 per cent of the members of the economic and social council. In addition, between ten thousand and fifteen thousand of them are business leaders. Nevertheless, unemployment affects women disproportionately, 16.7 per cent in 2004 compared to 12.9 per cent for men.