Progress Amid Resistance

TUNISIA 507SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTSSince independence, Tunisian society has undergone numerous importantchanges, and the pace of change has increased of late. In particular,there has been a continuous rise in the standard of living, and 80 percentof households are now considered middle class. 73 Some 68.7 percent ofthe population lives in an urban environment, and poverty has decreased,with only 3.8 percent of the population now living below the povertyline. 74 Women’s prominence in society has continued to rise as they achievescholarly success, increased presence in the workplace, access to managerialpositions, business initiatives, and presence in intellectual and artisticvenues. However, inequality between men and women persists in culturalpractices. This is a legacy of the “traditional” society, wherein the publicand private spheres are distinct entities, with men essentially dominatingthe public sphere and the private sphere being “reserved for women.”Advances in public health policies and family planning have enabledwomen to strengthen their liberty. With a reasonably easy access to contraception,more women are able to limit family size and increase the intervalsbetween births, allowing them to attain “autonomy of personal status.” 75Additionally, under Article 214 of the penal code, abortions performed inthe first trimester are legal. 76 As pointed out by Jacques Vallin and ThérèseLocoh in their 2001 analysis of the evolution of the country’s fertilityindex, “moving in the space of 30 years from 7.5 children per woman to2.2, Tunisia has changed planets. And this change is irreversible.” 77 Dueto the government’s rather successful family planning program, the fertilityrate was 2.0 children per mother in 2007, among the lowest in the developingworld, a decrease from 2.1 in 2000 and 3.5 in 1990. 78The government has spearheaded multiple health-related social policies,including the legalization of the import and sale of contraception;the limitation of family allowances to the first three children to encouragesmaller families; the legalization of regulated abortion in 1973; the creationof an agency for the protection of mother and child by the Ministryof Public Health; and the creation of the National Office for the Familyand Population. Women are able to access medical care in much the sameway as men, in part because a widow and her young children now enjoymedical benefits that were previously provided to her husband and is en -titled to 70 percent of his pension. Additionally, an increasingly large