Where are you, men of honor? Tunisian human rights
activist Radhia Nasraoui proudly recalls a woman shouting these words in front of
the government hall in Sidi Bouzid, the first flashpoint of protests that
eventually brought down Tunisian ruler Zine Al-Abidine Ben Ali in 2011. The
woman’s brave rebuke, for Nasraoui, epitomizes the strength of Tunisian women
and all that they have done for their country. Co-founder and president of the Association for the
Fight against Torture in Tunisia, Nasraoui was speaking of the ups and downs of the women’s
rights movement since the fall of the Ben Ali regime at a conference held at
the American University in Cairo. Despite apprehension over the electoral
victory of the Islamist Al-Nahda movement, she explained that women have successfully pushed back
against new attempts to legislate gender inequality. Calls for polygamy have
come to an end, and Al-Nahda has declared that wearing the hijab is a personal
matter not a religious obligation. “The progressive movements and feminist
movements are now pushing for complete equality between men and women and the
constitutionalizing of women’s rights,” Nasraoui told the conference hosted by
AUC’s John D. Gerhart Center for Philanthropy and Civic Engagement. “We stand for principles of
the revolution—freedom, social justice, equality, democracy, and dignity. It is
a popular stand and does not include any religious references and doesn’t call
for applying sharia.” Nevertheless, Nasraoui said, Tunisian women remain on their
guard.