Women in Tunisia

Tunisia has always prided itself on the freedom of its women, going back to when the country first gained independence from France. Women in Tunisia have the right to vote, seek office, open businesses, pursue higher education, ask for divorce, get an abortion (before American women could), and the woman's consent is required for marriage (Wikipedia). Also, according to Keljein (LookLex), the women in Tunisia are very friendly to visitors and premarital relations are not as shameful as in other Middle Eastern countries. In recent times, women have even played an integral part in the revolution in Tunisia that sparked the Arab Spring (Beardsley), which is surprising since much of the revolution was led by Islamists, who will likely infringe upon the rights that women enjoyed before. The women are well-educated, though, with a literacy rate of over 71% (Beinhold), which hopefully means that the women will work hard to maintain there previous position in the country. In the end, the women in Tunisia are far better off than many of their Middle Eastern counterparts in terms of progressive policies regarding women in Tunisian society.

Sources:
Beardsley, Eleanor. "In Tunisia, Women Play Equal Role In Revolution : NPR." NPR : National Public Radio. 27 Jan. 2011. Web. 31 Dec. 2011. http://www.npr.org/2011/01/27/133248219/in-tunisia-women-play-equal-role-in-revolution.
Beinhold, Katrin. "Women's Rights a Strong Point in Tunisia." The New York Times. 22 Feb. 2011. Web. 31 Dec. 2011. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/23/world/middleeast/23iht-letter23.html.
Kjeilen, Tore. "Tunisia- Relations." LookLex Travel Guides. Web. 31 Dec. 2011. http://looklex.com/tunisia/z_sex_relations.htm.
"Women in Tunisia." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 31 Dec. 2011. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_Tunisia.