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Tunisia’s elections through women’s eyes

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Summary of story from Al Jazeera, October 22, 2011

The role of women in the new Tunisia has been a controversial issue throughout the transitional period, with some fearful that they would lose precious rights from the previous era, and others arguing for a return to traditional values.

Early on in the democratic transition, an ambitious gender parity law was introduced to ensure women would have a voice in the constituent assembly. For some, however, this law did not go far enough.

There are no gender quotas for seats in the assembly, for example. And most parties have men at the head of the majority of their lists, meaning parity on the campaign trail is unlikely to translate into parity in the body that will rewrite the country’s constitution and appoint a new government.

Al Jazeera’s Yasmine Ryan spoke to a diverse range of Tunisian women about how they have experienced the campaign period, and their aspirations for the future and about how they will be voting tomorrow.

Women interviewed include Islam Boubaher, a 25-year-old engineering student, who will be voting for al-Nahda, a pro-democracy Islamist party

Boubaher says she has encountered women who fear al-Nahda coming to power, but she believes their concern is misguided.

“Some people are convinced by al-Nahda, others are not,” she says.

“Some women are worried that they won’t be able to work and that they will be forced to stay at home.”

“But this isn’t al-Nahda’s position, otherwise I wouldn’t be out here campaigning for them.”

Boubaher hopes to launch her own business once she graduates, and says her biggest concern for the future of Tunisia is economic development.

By contrast, Sana Charnine says she is very worried about the outcome of the vote on Sunday because of the likelihood that al-Nahda will win a large portion of the seats in the constituent assembly. She will be voting for the Democratic Modernist Coalition (PDM), a coalition of centre-left parties which champion gender equality.

“I will be voting for the PDM because it’s a democratic coalition of several parties, and because they support freedom of expression and freedom of religion,” she said.

“I’m very afraid, there is a real risk from the Islamists. There’s only one party that scares me, al-Nahda,” she says.

Presumably, the only reason Charnine isn’t even more scared of Hizb ut-Tahrir, a conservative Islamist party that calls for all Muslim nations to be united under a single caliph, or Muslim leader, is because the party is boycotting the elections after the Tunisian authorities refused to grant it authorisation.

Om Zayed is an activist for Hizb ut-Tahrir.  The young mother is strongly critical of women who have been advocating for existing women’s rights to be protected, especially when it comes to the Tunisian Association of Democratic Women (ATFD by its French acronym).

“These women are enemies of God and his Prophet and yet they claim to speak in our name,” she told Al Jazeera.

Om Zayed denounces the rights women gained under former President Habib Bourguiba, which include the right to initiate divorce, equal pay and to access abortion facilities.

“These women call for the gains made by Tunisian women to be preserved, but what gains are they referring to?

“The media claim that [they] represent the majority [of Tunisian women] but in reality, they only represent a tiny minority.”

Mounia Jameleddine and Karthoum Triki do not reveal how they will be voting, but what is certain is that they will vote. The two women from the town of Sousse co-founded the Karama Association, an organisation that aims to represent women across the country, especially in rural areas.

“We’re working to achieve complete equality between men and women, and to reach out to women who have no idea about their rights and [who] accept their fate,” Jameleddine said.

“We believe in democracy and in women’s progress,” Triki told Al Jazeera. “We want to maintain the rights we already have and to go further.”

In the Sousse region, Karama’s members were helping to encourage women to enrol to vote for the constituent assembly in July and August, visiting women in their homes, in shopping malls, at the beach and at festivals.

“Sousse is the second highest town in Tunisia in terms of voluntary inscriptions,” Triki noted.

After years of rigged elections under now-ousted President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, many women have been sceptical – believing that nothing had really changed this time round, they said.

“Hopefully, when they see that this election is truly transparent, mentalities will change, because it’s not easy to make people change their minds,” Jameleddine concluded.

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