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Constructing Citizenship: Gender and Changing Discourses in Tunisia

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Gendered Citizenship and the Politics of Representation

Part of the book series: Citizenship, Gender and Diversity ((FEMCIT))

Abstract

Citizenship means belonging to a community defined in political terms and nation-states have historically constituted the most relevant political community. A matter of inclusion and exclusion, citizenship can be understood as involving rights and obligations as codified in the laws and regulations of a country. It can also be seen in its more symbolic form in terms of how different categories of people in a given political community are represented in public discourse or in culturally significant national texts such as constitutions. This chapter uses a multifaceted conceptualization of citizenship that highlights its several dimensions. We show how different dimensions of “being a citizen” come to the fore in national politics in different political contexts. Taking the example of Tunisia, a small majority Muslim population country that stands out in the Arab world for its long history of legislation relatively favorable to women, we consider two critically important political contexts, postcolonial state formation in the 1950s and democratization in the Arab Spring revolution in 2011. We first show how the first national postcolonial state addressed issues of gendered citizenship in the 1950s in making reforms in rights in family law. We then consider how women themselves debated issues of representation in the drafting of a new constitution following the 2011 revolution. Our analysis demonstrates how gendered the discourse and debates on citizenship have been, regardless of the particular issues at stake.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    See article 23 in Charrad and Ha, forthcoming: 167–168.

  2. 2.

    We discuss here the draft Constitution released on 13 August 2012 as this version was the catalyst for debates about specific articles, such as Article 2.28. Another draft was released on 14 December 2012. The nine chapters in the Tunisian Constitution draft of 13 August 2012 are entitled “General Provisions”, “Rights and Obligations”, “Legislative Power”, “Executive Power”, “Judicial Power”, “Local Government”, “Constitutional Authorities”, “Amendment of the Constitution” and “Final Provisions”.

  3. 3.

    The other article concerning women’s rights is Article 1.10 entitled “Rights of women and the family”. This article reads as follows: “The state shall protect the rights of women as well as protect family structures and maintain the coherence thereof” (International Idea 2012).

  4. 4.

    An unofficial Arabic text of the 13 August 2012 draft Constitution is available online: http://www.marsad.tn/uploads/documents/Projet_Brouillon_Constit.pdf

  5. 5.

    This was brought to the fore by the assassination of a secularist political leader, Chokri Belaid.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology, A1700, University of Texas at Austin, 305 E, 23rd Street, 78712, Austin, TX, USA

    Mounira M. Charrad

  2. Texas Christian University, 4006 Scharbauer Hall, 76129, Fort Worth, TX, USA

    Amina Zarrugh

Authors
  1. Mounira M. Charrad
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  2. Amina Zarrugh
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Uni Research Rokkan Centre, Bergen, Norway

    Hilde Danielsen

  2. Centre for Women’s and Gender Research, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway

    Kari Jegerstedt

  3. Department of Comparative Politics, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway

    Ragnhild L. Muriaas

  4. Department of Information Science and Media Studies, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway

    Brita Ytre-Arne

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© 2016 The Author(s)

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Charrad, M.M., Zarrugh, A. (2016). Constructing Citizenship: Gender and Changing Discourses in Tunisia. In: Danielsen, H., Jegerstedt, K., Muriaas, R., Ytre-Arne, B. (eds) Gendered Citizenship and the Politics of Representation. Citizenship, Gender and Diversity. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-51765-4_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-51765-4_7

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-137-51764-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-137-51765-4

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