Arab women seek a place in the spring

Published: Wednesday, November 30, 2011

As several countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) elect bodies to write new constitutions, women are looking to expand their rights through legislation.

TUNISIA'S newly elected constituent assembly has begun a year-long process of writing a new constitution, and women's rights advocates greeted the inaugural meeting with protests to demand that their rights be guaranteed in the future constitution.

Under former president Zine el Abidine Ben Ali, Tunisia was hailed as one of the most advanced countries in the Arab world in terms of women's rights, due to abolition of the Personal Status Code in 1956.

Following Ben Ali's ouster, many fear an Islamist takeover after the moderate Ennahda party's win in last month's first free elections.

More than any other region, the imbalance of economic status and rights between men and women remains the greatest in the MENA. Coupled with a lack of strategic planning to integrate women into political life, this has led to a low level of representation in parliament.

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