Tunisia: Understanding Conflict 2012 - Johns Hopkins School of ...

something every Tunisian boy does not like. The niqab never existed in Tunisia before
and not just because of Ben Ali. The niqab prevents boyfriends. It is manipulated by a
very small group…the Saudis are funding the Wahhabist movement in Tunisia” (SAIS
Group Meeting, 24 January 2012). As usual, the involvement of a garment that covers a
woman’s entire face has made the argument about much more than freedom, and points
to growing concerns about the new presence of conservatism in the county. Omezzine
Khélifa, one of the youngest women to be on the electoral lists for Ettakatol, asks, “Even
if this is a question of individual liberty to wear what you want, where is this violence
coming from?” (SAIS Group Meeting, 27 January 2012). As Ms. Arfaoui relayed to us,
when asked about the necessity of wearing the niqab, one of the female protestors replied
“Islam is at threat” (SAIS Group Meeting, 23 January 2012). The issue of women
wearing the niqab has lodged itself at the center of the debate between secular and
Islamist principles.
Failure on the Part of the Left and Right
The response of Ennahdha and its supporters to accusations of ambiguity, secret
conservatism and “double-speak” is one of simple dismissal. When I raised the issue of
women’s rights to Abderrazak Kilani, Minister for Coordination between the Constituent
Assembly and the Government, he responded: “There is no anxiety or concern
(inquiétude). Ennahdha will not touch these rights. Everyone agrees that we won’t change
anything” (SAIS Group Meeting, 24 January 2012). When I asked him, then, why the left
was showing concern, he responded, “The demands that women have in Tunisia are not
even guaranteed in Europe, so that is not the problem right now” (SAIS Group Meeting,
24 January 2012). This dismissive attitude is reflective of many of the people we met,
who seemed to think that achieving the same rights as women in Europe 17 is reason
enough to stop pursuing women’s advancement.
17 The claim is also fundamentally false, as women in Europe and the United States do not face
the same obstacles in inheritance laws and in attempting to grant citizenship to their non-Muslim
husbands like Tunisian women do.
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