Zohour Al-Mashriqi
Tunis —The feminist movement in Tunisia represents a deeply rooted struggle that has combined thought and practice, contributing to the construction of a progressive social model based on equality and justice. The awareness of women activists and their legal organization formed a fundamental pillar for the success and continuity of this movement despite ongoing challenges.

Human rights and feminist activist Zainab Al-Sharni summarizes the secret behind the superiority of the feminist movement in Tunisia in a clear duality that the country has successfully entrenched unlike others, emphasizing that steadfastness constitutes one of the key secrets of resilience and distinction.

She explained that the Tunisian feminist scene after independence was initially limited to a single women’s institution concerned with women’s issues—the Union of Women. However, this situation gradually began to change with the development of political awareness, the emergence of a critical movement within universities, and later with the 1972 student and labor movement, which brought about transformations within both the Student Union and the General Labor Union.

The Development of the Feminist Movement

She clarified that this dynamism contributed to the formation of a new feminist vision that began with self-reflection and engagement with women’s specific issues, particularly within the Tahar Haddad Club at the time. She noted that this phase—which she personally experienced—was a period of exploration and searching, linked to analyzing women’s lived reality and understanding the forms of oppression they faced, while simultaneously attempting to examine an alternative social model based on respect for principles of equality, especially equity, within broader political and social frameworks.

She pointed out that the goal was to formulate a societal model in which opportunities for work, wealth, and dignity would be equally and jointly shared between men and women. She considered that era a turning point in the history of the feminist movement, as it witnessed the publication of the first feminist newspaper titled “Nisa’ (Women)”, and the emergence of intellectual disagreements among feminist currents with differing orientations.

She added that some of these currents focused on women’s specificity in order to build an alternative social vision, while others emphasized these specificities to deconstruct feminist identity and transform women’s lived reality—an approach that enriched feminist debate and reinforced its pluralism in Tunisia.

Zainab Al-Sharni explained that the second phase in the history of the development of the Tunisian feminist movement was marked by the rise of critical confrontation and the clarity of an oppositional feminist movement, particularly with the formation of associations in 1989—a pivotal phase characterized by intelligence and effectiveness.

She noted that this phase was the result of initially unstructured work that combined activism and theory, before becoming organized and integrated into an objective and legal framework. This process culminated in the establishment of several associations, most notably the Tunisian Association of Democratic Women and the Association of Women for Research and Development.

She considered this transformation a highly significant event, as it granted feminist work continuity and enabled the movement to address women’s issues through formal studies, alongside conducting organized field actions.

She added that the feminist path in Tunisia has essentially remained both intellectual and activist in nature, based on a duality of thought and action. It produced theoretical writings and research while simultaneously establishing important social work, including supporting marginalized women and listening to women victims of violence.

She also pointed out that the Tunisian feminist movement engaged in major humanitarian causes, participating in social mobilizations against the Iraq war, against the Israeli massacres in Sabra and Shatila, and against violence inflicted on the Palestinian people. She emphasized that this approach has consistently framed the women’s issue from the perspective of reflecting on feminist subjectivity and the distinct lived reality of women, while always aiming to transform society and build it on just foundations.

A Prominent Role in the January Revolution

Zainab Al-Sharni explained that feminist mobilizations, throughout different stages, were interconnected and interactive with human rights and labor movements inside and outside Tunisia. The movement also played a prominent role in the January 14 Revolution, contributing to the popular uprising and having previously participated in the Gafsa mining basin protests. This, she argued, explains the feminist movement’s constant presence during various phases of openness and social transformation in Tunisia.

She affirmed that the Tunisian feminist movement is among the strongest and most advanced compared to its counterparts in the region and Africa, stressing that it has left a clear imprint across different historical periods and was present at pivotal moments in Tunisian society.

She noted that the feminist movement actively participated in the Tunisian revolution and confronted what she described as a “reactionary, obscurantist tide” that sought to undermine women’s achievements and push them back into stages Tunisian women had never lived through. She asserted that this struggle prevented women from being dragged into cycles of enslavement and marginalization.

She considered that the feminist movement acquired a dual character: engaging in dialogue with the regime and official institutions to change laws and initiate legislative reforms, while simultaneously participating in the broader emancipatory social movement of Tunisian society.

She added that feminists were present from December 17 and January 14 onward, with their contributions evident through drafting texts with a gender-sensitive approach. These texts emerged from feminist grassroots bases and field discussions before being presented to higher bodies, the Tunisian General Labor Union, and others, within a framework of practical networking relations between feminist institutions and civil society components.

She pointed out that these transformations reflected the transition of the feminist movement from closed, unstructured work to intellectually and practically institutionalized action aimed at changing society.

The Strength of Feminist Institutions in Tunisia

Regarding the reasons behind the success and organization of the Tunisian feminist movement despite the difficulties and attacks it faced, Zainab Al-Sharni considered that women realized early on the importance of legal and legitimate presence. This, she said, reflects intellectual maturity and political awareness among the feminist elite, who became convinced that long-term struggle cannot remain clandestine, but must be public and active within society.

She also noted that the diversity of social and political backgrounds among activists—ranging from Marxists, liberals, communists, to trade unionists—gave the feminist movement additional strength, alongside this elite’s awareness of the importance of legal work as a fundamental entry point for securing women’s rights.

She stated that the strength of feminist institutions in Tunisia, foremost among them the Tunisian Association of Democratic Women—which she described as the key to the feminist uprising since its founding in 1989—contributed to winning women’s rights and legislation that protects women from violence and exclusion, and guarantees their right to work and participate in public and political life. She emphasized that these rights were the result of long struggles and not a gift from anyone.

She added that these achievements influenced official institutions and contributed to changing the reality of the family and society, while maintaining a model societal vision.

She explained that reforms were achieved through a “direct tactical formula” based on gradualism, while preserving a political normative vision that formed a shared horizon for activists despite their ideological differences. They converged around principles of justice, equity, and the distribution of labor. She considered that this duality, along with the specificity and distinctiveness of the activists, facilitated the continuity of feminist presence and defined the strength of the feminist movement in Tunisia.

The human rights and feminist activist Zainab Al-Sharni concluded that the secret of strength, success, and steadfastness lies in the duality of reform and continuous transformation, leading toward building the normative model for which the Tunisian feminist movement continues to struggle.