Sitting behind his large desk in the presidential palace in Carthage, wearing a white face mask in defense of the corona virus, Tunisian President Case Said announced last Wednesday in his pathetic literary Arabic a revolutionary and unprecedented move in the Arab world: who will form Tunisia's next government And stand at her head - she is a woman.
"As is well known, Tunisia is in a state of emergency," said Said, who just two months ago took over the country in a process defined by his critics as a "coup," and turned to the designated and excited prime minister, Dr. Najla Boden-Ramadan, who sat opposite him.
"In view of the political, economic and social conditions we have experienced in recent years, and especially in recent times, I have decided to appoint you to form a new government. Even those who work to destroy the country.
"Today we bear historical responsibility, and this moment is indeed historic: for the first time a woman receives the Prime Minister of Tunisia. It is a tribute to Tunisia and a tribute to Tunisian women. I see in front of me a woman who can lead successfully and with clear vision, like a man. ".
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The appointment aroused, as expected, widespread international interest.
Many media outlets have reported on the courageous move by the Tunisian president, who is facing waves of criticism from home and abroad.
For a brief moment, the heavy shadow of Tunisia's many problems - the deep economic crisis, high unemployment, mass immigration, corruption and crime, and the political emergency declared by Said only two weeks ago - disappeared and Tunisia returned to being a beacon of hope for the Arab world, just as it was a decade ago. The "Arab Spring" flag.
Until that moment, however, few in Tunisia had heard of Bowden-Ramadan, 63, a doctor of geology with no political experience, who overnight became a symbol of progress: the first woman to head a government in the Arab world, and the fifth to be elected to a Muslim state (after Benazir Bhutto in Pakistan; Tenso Ch. Hiller in Turkey; Hussein and Azad and Khalida Zia in Bangladesh).
Bowden-Ramadan received the appointment wearing an elegant black suit, a pearl necklace around her neck, bright high heels at her feet, her light hair carelessly gathered, exposed to the eyes of all, and she wears no cover except a disposable mask to protect from the corona, as required.
A modern, academic woman who does not try to please anyone, and does not succumb, even temporarily or publicly, to the religious traditions in a country where until recently the Muslim Brotherhood ruled.
She was born in the city of Karavan in central Tunisia, the fourth holiest city in Islam, and does not belong to a well-known family - a fact that plays in her favor, given the popular aversion to traditional political elites.
She received her doctorate in geology from the École nationale supérieure des mines de Paris, and after receiving her diploma she taught at the Higher School of Engineering in Tunisia.
From 2011 she worked in the Government Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research and was promoted to the position of Director General of the Ministry.
As part of her role, Bowden-Ramadan was responsible for implementing a reform of Tunisia's higher education system, funded by the World Bank - a very important link for formulating future solutions to get Tunisia out of the deep economic crisis it has been in for decades.
Her former boss, Shihab Bowden, who served as Minister of Higher Education from 2016-2015, testified that she is a "serious, honest and systematic woman who can work 16-13 hours a day."
Bowden-Ramadan's appointment came as a complete surprise even in the face of the fact that Said himself was considered a conservative.
During his presidential campaign, two years ago, he even pledged "not to touch the Koran," and to respect what is written in it as written and as worded.
However, the solution to this contradiction may lie with his wife, Ishraf Shabil-Said, a lawyer, a judge of the Court of Appeal in the former Tunis, and a close friend of Bowden-Ramadan.
According to the gossip coming from Tunisia, the Said Trail played a key role in the decision to appoint Bowden-Ramadan as prime minister.
She herself was forced to quit her job as a judge and became a lecturer at the Center for Legal Studies in Tunisia so that she could assist her husband in the almost impossible task he had undertaken: to save Tunisia.
She may see Boden-Ramadan as the anchor her husband so desperately needs.
Indeed, two days after his appointment, Said again hosted Bowden-Ramadan in his office, and continued to celebrate the class in front of the cameras.
"The whole world is talking about the first Arab woman to be appointed prime minister," he declared, "I am sure you will succeed in the task you have undertaken. The right of Tunisians to live freely and with dignity, and their right to have their human and legitimate demands met.
"We will not agree that anyone should interfere in our decisions. We are solely responsible for them, in the face of Allah and in the face of the people. Whoever wants to impose things on us from the outside, let him know that his attempts will fail."
A demonstration against President Said in the capital, Tunis, last month.
On September 22, Said announced the extension of the state of emergency and the concentration of government powers in his hands, Photo: AFP
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His unequivocal message was directed by the Tunisian president towards the local Islamists, as well as their sponsors in Qatar and Turkey.
It was the subversive activity of those Islamists who are accused, among other things, of injecting terrorists from the Libyan border into attempts to increase their grip on power by violent means - which led him to declare the government disbanded, suspend the elected parliament and declare a state of emergency on July 25.
On September 22, Said had already announced the extension of the state of emergency and the concentration of governmental powers in his hands, and now he controls Tunisia by presidential decrees.
In fact, it is Said - an expert in public and constitutional law - the young Tunisian constitution, which he himself co-drafted about a decade ago, after the popular revolution that began the "Arab Spring" and overthrew the regime of authoritarian ruler Zin al-Abdin bin Ali.
Tunisian opposition members, both Islamist and secular, were quick to point out that despite its historic nature, the appointment of Bowden-Ramadan is quite problematic.
This is because the president himself has suspended the work of parliament, which is supposed to approve by a majority vote the appointment of a prime minister as required by the Tunisian constitution.
For Said, who is, as mentioned, his specialty, this is a very sharp criticism.
Samir Dilo, a human rights minister in a previous government and a member of the Islamist A-Nahda party, said Boden-Ramadan's appointment was illegal at all, as it was based on a presidential decree rather than parliamentary approval, while a-Nahda former leader Abdel Latif McKee, went so far as to warn that anyone who was a member of Bowden-Ramadan's government would be considered an accomplice to Said's government coup.
One of the party's deputies in the suspended parliament, Yemina Zo'almi, was more careful in her response, and in a post she posted on Facebook she wrote: "I would like a woman to be elected prime minister under the law, with all due respect to Mrs. Bowden-Ramadan."
The opposition also raises serious questions about the powers that Bowden-Ramadan will enjoy as prime minister, given the extension of the state of emergency in the country and the transfer of most of the powers to Said.
The Tunisian president also made it clear, while declaring an extension of the state of emergency in the country, that Tunisia's future prime minister would serve only as an "assistant to the president", hence the opposition .
This position is also shared by Munir Petur, a lawyer and activist for the rights of the LGBT community, whose candidacy for the 2019 Tunisian presidential race was rejected by the Election Commission, and he was forced to flee to Paris following threats to his life.
"The election of a woman is meant to beautify the image of the regime," he says.
Bowden-Ramadan will always have to get approval for its decisions from the president, and will have to follow his instructions, word for word.
It has no room for maneuver. '
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The fact that the voice of the designated prime minister has not been heard so far, and is only seen in videos uploaded by the president's spokesperson service, does not prevent women's organizations in Tunisia and around the world from welcoming the appointment.
Naila Zo'almi, who heads the Tunisian Association of Democratic Women, stressed that the appointment of a woman as prime minister was the first demand her organization presented to President Said.
However, Zo'almi added that more than the appointment, the future government platform, its powers and composition are important.
Manel Masalmi, a Tunisian-Belgian feminist activist who serves as an adviser on Middle East affairs to European MPs, also believes it is an "excellent initiative".
"This is a decision that Tunisian feminists have been very much looking forward to," Masalmi said this week, in a conversation with Shishvat.
"Of course there are certain tactics and strategies behind this decision. The president wanted to appoint a woman with abilities, close to him and a partner in his principles, especially when it comes to the fight he wants to wage against corruption in the country.
"It is also an appointment that allows him to promote women and introduce them to the history of Tunisia and the Arab world as a leadership. It is a decision that will change the mentality."
What about the criticism that the designated prime minister will not have much power?
"For now, we are in a state of waiting. We will wait and see what happens in the coming weeks. I have confidence in the Tunisian civil society, which is always careful to check whether there are any deviations on the part of the government or whether there will be abuse of power. The people will not give up the struggle for more freedom and equality.
"Ultimately, in order to be able to place women leaders in key positions, feminism is needed that also comes from the state, just as Tunisian President Bourguiba implemented at the time."
President Said and Dr. Bowden-Ramadan. "Respect for Tunisia and Tribute to Tunisian Women", Photo: EPI
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Indeed, there are already those who call Dr. Bowden-Ramadan "the daughter of Bourgeois," that is, the one who represents the generation of women who grew up under the liberating work of Habib Bourgeois, the founder of modern Tunisia.
Less than six months after Tunisia gained its independence, in March 1956, Bourguiba announced its intention to enshrine in the Tunisian constitution precedent-setting reforms regarding gender equality in the Arab world.
It gave Tunisian women the right to vote, making Tunisia the fourth Muslim country to do so, after Turkey (1930), Indonesia (1945) and Pakistan (1947), and the sixth Arab state after Lebanon (1952), Syria (1953), Egypt (1956), Morocco and Algeria (1962). In addition, Bourguiba established the "personal status code," which came into force in January 1957, and included a ban on polygamy; Duty of consent of both parties to the marriage; Registration of marriage only before state authorities and not before witnesses, as was customary until then; Determining the minimum age at which a woman is allowed to marry at 15 (two years later raised it to 17); And also denied the man the exclusive right to expel his wife in a brief ceremony and in the presence of witnesses. With the entry into force of the code, the divorce proceedings went to the civil courts and women were given the right to receive compensation.
Bourguiba had, of course, had to confront the sages of the Muslim clergy in Tunisia to pass these reforms.
"Without Bourguiba's determination, the whole move would not have been successful. It was his greatest achievement in history," Tunisian feminist activist and leader of the National Union of Tunisian Women, Radia Haddad, later wrote.
"No Arab-Muslim country has dared to carry out a social revolution on such a scale."
Although Bourguiba's feminist revolution is not completely complete (for example in the issue of inheritance, according to which women in Tunisia are entitled to receive only half of the inheritance received by a man - a position that President Said supports to this day), Tunisia is considered the most advanced gender equality country in the entire Arab world.
The number of women serving in the Tunisian parliament is among the highest in the Arab world (36%), and even after the Muslim Brotherhood won the first democratic elections after the overthrow of the bin-Ali regime, they maintained a semblance of respect for women in the country. "Nahda" to Parliament and local councils.
Moreover, the party pledged to continue to respect the "personal status code," made it clear that polygamy was illegal, recognized the right of women to dress as they wished "everywhere, including in bikinis," and allowed women to wear the hijab in public (a practice that Bourguiba forbade).
In 2017, the Tunisian parliament passed extensive legislation to protect women from violence, including the abolition of immunity granted to rapists who married their victims.
The legislation raised the age of consent for sex between 13 and 16-year-old girls, punished domestic violence and sexual harassment, and imposed fines of thousands of Tunisian dinars as punishment for discrimination against women in the workplace, including lower wages than men.
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But legislation separately and reality separately.
This is evidenced by Abir Musi, a 46-year-old lawyer, member of parliament and the only woman who currently heads a party in Tunisia - the "a-Dustor (Free) Constitution" party, which was formed after the 2011 revolution as a remnant of Presidents Bourguiba and Inter-Ali.
Due to the great hostility to the historic ruling party, Musi, who fears assassination, usually goes to parliament wearing a protective vest and a motorcycle helmet.
However, this protection did not help her in June last year, when during a parliamentary debate on entrusting the management of joint financial affairs to Tunisia and Qatar in the hands of a Qatari fund, ie by a foreign entity, Musi opposed the move.
Due to her position, she was attacked by two extremist Islamist deputies of the Al-Karama party with punches and kicks in the abdomen, until she needed medical attention.
The "Arab Spring" Revolution.
Did not contribute to the status of women in Tunisia, Photo: GettyImages
The Al-Karama party, formed in 2019 in response to the a-Nahda party's decision to abandon Islamist militancy, has in recent years become the representative of extremist Islamists in Tunisia, winning 21 seats out of 217 in the 2019 parliamentary elections (compared to 52 of a-Nahda). ).
"Unfortunately, the 2011 revolution has significantly damaged the achievements of the struggle of Tunisian women, and especially politicians, who have had to deal with attacks by Islamists in the last decade," Masalmi explains.
"The status of women in Tunisia over the past decade has been under threat. We have not seen many women in the eight governments formed in it, and the principle of equality in public sector appointments is not respected."
But the a-Nahda party made sure to put women on its lists for the various elections, and pledged to continue to respect the "personal status code."
"Of course, but it was a propaganda strategy designed to show that this is an advanced and open party, which has no Islamist ideological affiliation. They wanted to show that this is a normal Tunisian movement, to encourage people to vote for them."
Historically, what is the role of women in Tunisian society?
"Women were among the founders of Tunisia, they worked, influenced, created the international image of Tunisia. Women had a special role, especially on the political level.
"The country's first women, Vasilla Bourguiba and Laila Baali Ali, played an important role in the international arena. The compulsory education led by Bourgeois allowed women to star in various fields. The success rates of girls in matriculation exams and universities far exceed those of boys.
"All of this meant that women were present in all areas of activity, although they did not receive proper recognition, especially at the political level."
Musi's violent attack, like other violent incidents in parliament, was one of the factors that motivated President Said to dissolve the government and declare a state of emergency.
But if about two months ago these steps were taken in mass demonstrations in support of the people, as time goes on and it seems that the president is interested in serving as sole ruler, so is the protest against him, and masses of protesters take to the streets of Tunis and other important cities.
Bowden-Ramadan's appointment may also have come to reassure this protest, but in any case, many women in Tunisia and abroad are hoping for its success.
Failure will not only herald a dead end for Tunisia, but will certainly not contribute to the status of women in the Arab world.
eldadbeck@yahoo.de