Tunisia has long been a pioneer of women’s rights in the Arab world. The country, with a female prime minister and female judges in courts — a rarity for Arab countries — led the way with a groundbreaking law against all forms of gendered violence in 2017.
Arab women have long suffered from layers of marginalisation and invisibility due to stagnant social traditions and patriarchal culture, so the new law was celebrated as a landmark step to protect women from all forms of violence. It serves as a blueprint for other Arab nations to follow.
The struggle to control Muslim women’s bodies has taken different forms across countries and contexts, ranging from enforcing the hijab (Islamic headscarf) in countries like Saudi Arabia and Iran to banning it in European countries, such as France and Switzerland.
