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TUNISIA & WOMEN'S ROLES.   Term Paper ID:25987 Click to get this paper

Essay Subject: History of North African nation from 5th Cent. & second-class status of women under Islamic govt. Politics, marriage, sex, reform, effects of globalism.... More...

11 Pages / 2475 Words 2 sources, 7 Citations, APA Format $44.00 Return to List of Papers

Paper Abstract: History of North African nation from 5th Cent. & second-class status of women under Islamic govt. Politics, marriage, sex, reform, effects of globalism. Paper Introduction: Introduction The country now called Tunisia has a long and storied past. It has gone from a place of prominence in the classical world, through years as a subject of colonial European interest in the region, to its current status as an independent country. In every stage of development, women have had a role in the country's destiny. This must be true of any country, for as women constitute half the human population they must necessarily make significant contributions to all societies. However, it is also true that the contribution of women to Tunisian society has rarely been in the forefront of affairs. The face that Tunisia, like other countries in the region, puts forward is usually a male one. This is a result, at least in some measure, of traditional Islamic ideas about the proper roles for women in this primarily Moslem coun Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. Under the Ottoman Turks, Tunisia enjoyed a periodof relative stability from 1574 to 1881, when the country became a Frenchprotectorate. These culturalattitudes have combined with conservative strains of Islam to producesocial structures that substantially limit women's ability to act in thepublic domain or to find truly fulfilling life paths for themselves. This is a result, at least insome measure, of traditional Islamic ideas about the proper roles for womenin this primarily Moslem country. This should put women in generalin a better position than they experienced in clan contexts. Rather, contemporaryTunisian women want a legitimate and equal place for themselves withintheir society, but they want to take their place as Tunisian women in apost-colonial Arab world (Hatem, in Tucker, 1993, p. While personal statuslaws have been liberalized in Tunisia in the last several decades, thesechanges in the formal legal system have had relatively little affect inchanging negative cultural attitudes toward women. Ironically, it was the French who brought ideas about European-styledemocracy to Tunisia -- ideas that would later encourage Tunisians toagitate with increasing strength for self-rule. Of course it is alsotrue that the husband has no claim to his wife's affections, but this is offar less consequence in a patriarchal society (Eickelman, 1981, p. Secondly, in Islamic families women bear the burden of family honor,especially in the form of the maintenance of virginity until marriage.Because virginity in an unmarried woman was so important, male relatives ofa girl would go to great lengths to ensure it, including severe seclusionand restriction of young girls and marriage before the age of puberty. These groups "see the importance for women of the national struggle[but] they are not interested in subordinating women's case to the nationalone" (Hatem, in Tucker, 1993, p. Introduction The country now called Tunisia has a long and storied past. In addition to political activism, contemporary Tunisian women havesought to reshape their world through paid work outside the home. Theirshare was only half of that allotted to boys, but it was given to themabsolutely and in many cases could guarantee a fair amount of independence. Moreover, the Koran repeatedly emphasizes the kind treatment of womenand grants to wives the right of divorce in case of maltreatment. It is one of the fundamental ironies of life for Tunisian womenas well as for women in other parts of the Moslem world that one of theinitial appeals of Islam as a cultural (as opposed to a purely liturgicalor religious) movement was that it attempted to elevate the importance ofthe family. However, in the 199 s, women began to form groups that would helpthem address the concerns engendered by rise of conservative Arab Islamicregimes in the wake of the oil revolution and to create a voice for womenthat was both egalitarian and indigenous. But it is also determined by a number of other factors, amongthese the nationalism of Tunisia and the relative poverty of the country. Perhaps the most strikingsymbol of women's powerlessness is the Islamic practice of polygyny, whichpermits a husband to add wives to his household to compete for materialresources as well as affection without the agreement -- or even knowledge -- of a prior wife (Eickelman, 1981, p. 35). The status of women under Islamic rule (i.e. This might occur in part becausecountries such as Tunisia, without a ready and steady supply of moneybrought in by oil, may require help from the international community, whichmay in turn decline to give such help if full human rights are not grantedto women. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University. Thatthese groups have lasted for two decades now and the fact that the journalsand newspapers associated with them have proven to be so successfuldemonstrates the dissatisfaction that women feel with their role incontemporary Tunisian society. Arab women: Old Boundaries, new frontiers. 253). Although it could not entirely suppress traditional tribal orclan loyalties, Islam demoted these, raising in their stead the filialduties and affections of husband to wife and wife to husband. This must be true of any country, for aswomen constitute half the human population they must necessarily makesignificant contributions to all societies. 35). Some women have found such trade-offs not to be worth it, others have found the benefits of the job tooutweigh the costs of increased isolation and still others have foundpleasure both in their jobs and in the society of other women likethemselves (Eickelman, 1981, p. Such anemphasis on the marital family unit has the potential of elevating theimportance of the wife (who often had very little power or importance inpatriarchal and patrilineal clans). 149). However, it probably gave women morepower throughout their lifetimes because it ensured that they stayed in afamiliar setting after their marriages, close to their parents and siblings(Eickelman, 1981, p. Among the mostsignificant of these is that the infanticide of girls -- formerly prevalentamong certain tribes -- is forbidden. The Taliban has taken away all gainsmade by women during the Soviet occupation and removed many rights thathave been widely claimed by Afghani women for centuries, demonstrating thatit is as easy for a country to go backwards in terms of human rights as itis to go forward. The Koran repeatedly and forcefully advocates a number of measuresthat were intended to improve the condition of women. (This point has been repeatedly argued byboth Moslem men and women.) It is quite possible that Tunisian women may beperfectly happy with their status, either believing it to be egalitarian orbelieving themselves to be justly and rightly subordinate. Yet, certainly cultural attitudes thatlie outside of formal religious practice and belief also affect the statusof women. 29). This is reflected in the shape that contemporary women'smovements have taken as well. These contemporary women'sgroups are post-Islamist in the sense that they see Islam and Koranicteachings being used (often with dubious historical and liturgicalaccuracy) to suppress women. What the future may hold for Tunisian women depends both on the womenthemselves as a part of Tunisian society as well as on larger politicalissues. TheKoran approves polygyny, allowing as many as four wives, but also states,"if you fear you cannot do justice among co-wives, then marry only onewife." The abuse of polygyny and of the husband's right in traditional Islamto repudiate his wife, even when her conduct is faultless, has recently ledto the enactment of reformed family laws in most Muslim countries,including some changes in traditional family status law in Tunisia. (Although it should be noted that the arranged natureof the marriages is to some extent lessened or mitigated by the fact thatdivorce is easy and fairly common, admittedly usually at the instigation ofthe man.) In an arranged marriage, a woman enters the relationship withoutany claim to her husband's love and so the bonds of affection that tend toequalize formal conjugal inequalities are absent. Tucker, J. In fact, Tunisian Islamic marriagesare most often arrangements designed to suit the interests and needs of thecouple's families. In every stage of development, women have had arole in the country's destiny. Such groups would not have sprung upin Tunisia had the status of women been higher and their role in societydefined with a greater degree of egalitarianism. Contemporary Tunisian women's status is affected in significant andpervasive ways by the overriding nature of the Islamic influence in theircountry. Whileprofessional outlets can offer personal satisfaction and some measure ofeconomic freedom, women who work outside their homes may in fact findthemselves increasingly secluded from men. This paper examines the history of this North African country with afocus on the position of women in its past and present and concludes withan analysis for the future of women's roles and women's status. And yet, despite the gloominess of this picture, Tunisian women mayyet be able to take their destinies in their own hands and create aposition for themselves that is consonant with nationalist feelings,strongly Arabist and Islamic and yet also equal and free. Suchchanges necessarily mean a more equal society for women and perhaps happier(because more egalitarian) marriages as well (Eickelman, 1981, p. However, remnants of all four of these elements remainand affect the status of Tunisian women, in most cases detrimentally. The first elementthat should be discussed is the extent to which it is a consensual match onthe part of the bride and the groom. Although Rome was not a perfectlyegalitarian society in terms of gender, in many social and legal arenas itdid recognize women as nearly equal to men. References Eickelman, D. (1981). 197). However, it is also true thatthe contribution of women to Tunisian society has rarely been in theforefront of affairs. According to tradition,Phoenician traders founded the city of Carthage in 814 BC at a locationslightly northeast of the site of modern Tunis. Thiscustom narrowed the pool of potential marriage partners, which was ingeneral to the disadvantage of women. (ed.) (1993). That the statusof Tunisian women from the perspective of the United States appearsunsatisfactory would not matter in this situation if the Tunisian womenthemselves were happy with their status. One suspects that the United States might have considered makingsuch demands of its Gulf War partners if it were not so greedy to haveaccess to future oil. Likewise itwould be reassuring to believe that if Tunisian women were being obviouslyoppressed then the world community would come to their aid. 197). And yet, these current women's groups are notsimply clones of Western feminist groups (as it might be argued were the UNand government-sponsored organizations of the 197 s). The Middle East: An anthropological approach. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. The Koran both stresses filial pietyand "love and mercy" between husband and wife and declares that men andwomen are equal, except that men are a "degree higher" because they arecharged with the household expenditure. But perhaps even more discouraging than this is the factthat the international community has made no attempt to right these wrongs. The past three decades have sometimes seen Tunisia embroiled in theregional conflicts of the Arab world (to which its ties have grownincreasingly close), flirting with socialism and attempting to stabilizeits economic situation in large measure by developing its petroleumreserves. Such precepts were exported toits colonies as well and would have been at least tacitly acknowledgedwhile Tunisia was under Roman rule. While byWestern standards, Tunisian women must seem oppressed, their own view oftheir situation is in general more sanguine and their hopes for their ownfutures and the lives that their daughters may lead hold at least a core ofoptimism. During the 5th century the Teutonic tribe known as the Vandals movedsouth through the Iberian Peninsula, crossed the Mediterranean, and wrestedthe province from Roman control. The length of theirsovereignty is one of the most important historical factors shaping thecountry. 198). Contemporary women groups have begun to link personal with politicalissues (in many ways analogous to the way that American and European womenhave done in their feminist organizations) and to emphasize that Tunisiawill be limited in its ability to modernize and democratize without thefull and equal participation of women (Hatem, in Tucker, p. One might well hypothesize that as oil reserves dry up in Tunisia(as in other Arabic and Northern African countries) then the conservatismthat grew up with oil money may die down. Status of Women Because of Tunisia's complex political history, the status of womenhas changed dramatically over time. This pattern of marriage with these four different elements was mostconsistently practiced in the late 18th and early 19th centuries (andalways more by the upper classes). 197). Whether thesimilar position of inferiority that existed in the past was acceptable isunclear. It hasgone from a place of prominence in the classical world, through years as asubject of colonial European interest in the region, to its current statusas an independent country. The UN will go to the rescue of ethnic minorities, but women may beoppressed and murdered and this is considered only an internal affair thatdoes not require intervention. However, it is clear from Tunisian women's own words and actions thattheir current position of subordination is not acceptable. This desire for autonomybecame even greater after World War II (when Tunisia had been under thegovernance of the Vichy collaborative government) and resulted in protocolsbeing signed in 1956 that gave the country its independence from France,although France and Tunisia continued to have strained (and sometimes evenmilitaristic) ties through the 196 s. However, decreasing oil reserves may make Tunisia turn inward,provoking an isolation from the world that produces a greater conservatismand wide-spread social insecurity that leads to more repressive socialpolicies. History of Tunisia In the earliest known period of its history, the region now calledTunisia was part of the Carthaginian Empire. The 197 s saw the rise of governmentallysanctioned women's groups in Tunisia and throughout the region: Thesegroups were interested in such generally middle-class concerns as access tobirth-control and modernization. Finally, such traditional Arab and Northern African Islamic marriagestended to place women in an essentially powerless position within thefamily. But theexample of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan makes it impossible to besanguine on either of these points. for over the lastmillennium) has been more problematic because Islamic societies have nottraditionally been supportive of the equal rights of women. It began to change as colonial forcesreshaped the region and as patterns of urbanization and industrializationbegan to emerge. As thecountry modernizes its economic infrastructure (moved along in thisdirection primarily by its oil industry) women in Tunisia find that theyare able to find jobs in a wider range of professions than their mothers.Paradoxically this can both improve and worsen their situation. In subsequent centuriesCarthage became the center of a mighty empire that dominated most ofnorthern Africa and intermittently ruled the southern part of the IberianPeninsula, Sardinia, and parts of Sicily. Because it is so central to Islamic doctrine (which in turn governsso many aspects of society in Tunisia) it is useful to examine in somedetail the nature of the traditional Islamic marriage. Because of its long and often acrimonious colonial past, much ofcontemporary Tunisian politics revolve around issues of nationalism and Pan-Arabism. Although Islamic laws reserves full property rights to marriedwomen, they exercised these rights with difficulty because they had solittle access to the public scene where such rights were enforced.Furthermore, women were often disinherited by their natal families so asnot to divide family property, ensuring that whatever property they didacquire would be managed by their husbands. It would be agreeable to suggest that given the fact that Tunisianwomen clearly want more rights for themselves then their path willnecessarily bring them to a position of greater equality. After a century of Vandal rule, theregion was reconquered for Rome. The face that Tunisia, like other countries in theregion, puts forward is usually a male one. Beginning in 264 BC, Carthageclashed with the expanding Roman Empire in a series of bloody strugglesknown as the Punic Wars. In the third of these, in 149-146 BC, Romedefeated the Carthaginians and completely destroyed their capital with theresult that through the 5th century AD most of the region now constitutingTunisia was part of the Roman province called Africa. However,exactly what women's status is in the Islamic world is difficult to analyzefrom a position outside that world, for Western ideas of feminism and ofwomen's rights may not apply. Arab political supremacy came to an end in the early 15th century andin 1574 armies of the Ottoman Empire defeated the Spanish and assumedhegemony over Tunisia. Breaking with the tradition ofpatriarchal tribes, daughters are given a share of inheritances. Theeffect of this was to thrust inexperienced children into situations wherethey might never be able to achieve psychological adulthood (Eickelman,1981, p. The many French who settled in Tunisia during the period ofthe protectorate exerted a strong Westernizing influence. In the 7th century, the region wasoverrun by Arab adherents of Islam; these conquerors ruled the regionthrough early 16th century, during which time they replaced the existingRoman-Christian culture with a Moslem way of life. Afghani women under the Sovietdomination of that country were treated with nearly the same equality asSoviet women themselves, being permitted to act as autonomous andproductive citizens of their land. The education that womenacquire to afford them these jobs raises their social status, which in turnrequires greater gender-based seclusion. The third important element of Islamic (and especially Arab and NorthAfrican) marriages was the tendency toward endogamous marriage. If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.