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Tunisia: A blend of tradition and modernity

Ramesh Ramachandran

Tunisia is a small country with big ideas. It is located in North Africa, at the heart of the Mediterranean basin. It is the first country in the Arab world to abolish polygamy. It is a rare Muslim country where women enjoy equality of rights. It has established judicial divorce proceedings, and girls account for 59 per cent of university students.

It has largely remained an oasis of tolerance at a time when some countries in that region have had to battle extremism and fundamentalism in its various forms and manifestations.

The former French protectorate may not have substantial oil wealth, but it more than makes up for it with ideas, which have transformed the lives of its people. As early as 1956, the Code of Personal Status codified the rights of women and rendered polygamy illegal. A culture of tolerance, openness and solidarity, combined with economic development aimed at eradicating poverty, has also ensured that Tunisia resisted extremist and fundamentalist tendencies.

Raouf Chatty, ambassador of Tunisia to India, attributes the success story of his country to making "relevant political choices", the essential ingredients of which are: Commitment to democracy, respect of human rights, social justice, modern interpretation of Islam, eradication of poverty, and last but not the least, empowerment of women.

"We are a Sunni-Muslim country. We have a small Christian and Jewish communities. Religion is a message of peace, love, tolerance and brotherhood," Raouf Chatty said. It is little over a year since Chatty arrived in India. He presented his credentials to the President of India on March 13, 2007.

According to him, the polices adopted since the Change of November 7, 1987, when Zine El Abidine Ben Ali succeeded Habib Bourguiba as President of Tunisia, provides for the universal schooling of girls, a larger presence of women in the job market, and the development of mother and child healthcare programmes. In 1993, Ben Ali amended the Code to give women more rights.

Women's increased presence in all fields and all sectors of society has substantially advanced the notion of gender partnership. Girls currently account for 59 per cent of university students, and the percentage of female students in secondary and higher education has increased from 42.4 per cent and 36.7 per cent in 1986-87 to 53.3 per cent and 59 per cent in 2006-07, respectively. The Tunisian economy today is perhaps the best placed among countries in the southern Mediterranean and its social indicators are among the best in Africa. Tunisia's proximity to Europe and Arab markets makes Tunisia a hub of investment and production. Its 1,300 km of coastline from the eastern to the western banks of the Mediterranean, with less than an hour's flight to/from Europe, offers many business opportunities.