Kurzbeschreibung

Gender policies have played a prominent role in Tunisian politics since its independence in 1956. The first president Bourguiba enhanced women’s societal status as part of his modernizing project and to win women’s loyalty. His successor Ben Ali used the protection of women’s rights as an argument to legitimize the persecution of Islamists. Women’s emancipation was thus promoted in a paternalistic logic as a personal project of the presidents. Yet in opposition to this ‘state-feminism’, an autonomous feminist organisation developed in the 1980s. To improve women’s status and avoid repression, these activists constantly had to walk the line between critique of the regime and cooperation with state institutions. Given the association of women’s rights with the old regime, many observers as well as Tunisian feminists feared a backlash after Ben Ali’s departure in January 2011. Nevertheless, both women’s rights and the autonomous feminist actors seem to have maintained an important position in politics. Therefore my PhD project analyses the development of the feminist movement and the conflict on women’s rights during the political transition.

Projektdetails

Projektart

Dissertation

Fachgruppe

Sprach- und Kulturwissenschaften

Fachliche Zuordnung

Islamwissenschaften

Beginn

2013

Ende

2018

Einrichtung

Fachgebiet/Arbeitsbereich

Berlin Graduate School Muslim Cultures and Societies

Projektteam

Leitung

Eva Christine Schmidt

Forschende

• Eva Christine Schmidt

  Ehemalig