The country now called Tunisia has a long and storied past. It has gone from a place of prominence in the classical world, through years as a subject of colonial European interest in the region, to its current status as an independent country. In every stage of development, women have had a role in the country's destiny. This must be true of any country, for as women constitute half the human population they must necessarily make significant contributions to all societies. However, it is also true that the contribution of women to Tunisian society has rarely been in the forefront of affairs. The face that Tunisia, like other countries in the region, puts forward is usually a male one. This is a result, at least in some measure, of traditional Islamic ideas about the proper roles for women in this primarily Moslem country. Yet, certainly cultural attitudes that lie outside of formal religious practice and belief also affect the status of women.
This paper examines the history of this North African country with a focus on the position of women in its past and present and concludes with an analysis for the future of women's roles and women's status. While by Western standards, Tunisian women must seem oppressed, their own view of their situation is in general more sanguine and their hopes for their own futures and the lives that their daughters may lead hold at least a core of optimism.
In the earliest known period of its history, the region now called Tunisia was part of the Carthaginian Empire. According to tradition, Phoenician traders founded the city of Carthage in 814 BC at a location slightly northeast of the site of modern Tunis. In subsequent centuries Carthage became the center of a mighty empire that dominated most of northern Africa and intermittently ruled the southern part of the Iberian Peninsula, Sardinia, and parts of Sicily. Beginning in 264 BC, Carthage clashed with the expanding Roman Empire in a se...