Does gender matter within the Tunisian civil society organizations following the "Arab Spring"? The division of labor and responsibilities among young activists

Thierry Desrues; Ana Velasco Arranz; Hamida El Bour

doi:10.17583/generos.10339

Authors

Thierry Desrues Institute of Advanced Social Studies, Spanish Research Council (IESA, CSIC)
Ana Velasco Arranz Higher Technical School of Engineering Agronomic, Food and Biosystems, Polytechnic University of Madrid (ETSIAAB-UPM)
Hamida El Bour Institute of Press and Information Sciences (IPSI)

https://doi.org/10.17583/generos.10339

Keywords:

women

civil society

Tunisia

Arab Spring

Downloads

PDF

Number of words in the article:

7987

Abstract

This article explores the gender dimension of young people participation in Tunisian civil society organizations (CSOs) that emerged largely after the 2011 "revolution". The main aims are, first, to provide information on the Tunisian context; second, to characterize this new activism marked by a large participation of young women; and, third, to identify whether there are elements typical of a gender division of positions, responsibilities and activism work. The Tunisian case is very interesting because political transitions are crucial moments for women's rights and associations. Based on two surveys, we put forward the hypothesis that inequality between men and women in the allocation of responsibilities will increase or decrease depending on the degree of gender inequality in the possession of skills and resources (educational, linguistic, socio-economic) and previous experiences of associative socialization. After outlining the national context, we find that the profiles, resources and socialization of activists are relatively homogeneous. However, while women and men gain access to positions of responsibility with some equality via elections to the executive bodies of CSOs, male leadership prevails in ad hoc activities that grant greater individual public recognition and leadership.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biographies

Thierry Desrues, Institute of Advanced Social Studies, Spanish Research Council (IESA, CSIC)

Thierry DESRUES is a Research Scientist of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) at the Institute for Advanced Social Studies (IESA) in Cordoba (Spain). His researches focused on social change, participation and representation in civil society, political parties and protests in North Africa with a specific interest in youth, gender and ethnic dimensions. Currently he is leading the research project ‘‘Crisis and political representation in North Africa.’ (2018-2022) [CSO2017-84949-C3-2-P], supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness and the European Regional Development Fund. Over the last decade, he has been the IP of the following research projects: “Public problems and activism in the Maghreb region: political and social participation of young " (2015-2017) and “Youth, social changes, politics and networks societies in the Maghreb region” (2012-2014) financed by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness. He is the co-editor or the author of 4 books and five special issues and has published over a hundred academic papers. His main publications of the last year are:

‘We don’t want to be governed like this anymore’: protest democracy as an expression of a crisis of governmentality in post-revolution Tunisia” (British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, 2021. With Éric Gobe). DOI: 10.1080/13530194.2021.1996333
"Participation, association-building and dissent in North Africa: the various dimensions of youth activism, from the fall of Ben Ali to the revolt against Bouteflika (2011-2019)" (Special issue, The Journal of North African Studies, 2021. Coord. with M. Garcia de Paredes).
“Unravelling the adoption of youth quotas in African hybrid regimes: Evidence from Morocco”, The Journal of Modern African Studies, 59(1), 41-58, 2021. (With M. García De Paredes.
“Associations and young people during the Tunisian transition: pluralism, socialisation, and democratic legitimation?”, The Journal of North African Studies, 26/2: 251- 271, 2021 (With A. Velasco).

Ana Velasco Arranz, Higher Technical School of Engineering Agronomic, Food and Biosystems, Polytechnic University of Madrid (ETSIAAB-UPM)

Ana VELASCO ARRANZ is a professor and researcher of Sociology at the Higher Technical School of Engineering Agronomic, Food and Biosystems of the Polytechnic University of Madrid (ETSIAAB-UPM). Over the last decade her research work has focused on social changes, gender and young people issues in the West Mediterranean area in general, and the Spanish rural and agrarian world, in particular. She has contributed to the following research projects: “Public problems and activism in the Maghreb region: political and social participation of young " (2015-2017);"Youth, social changes, politics and networks societies in the Maghreb region” (2012-2014) and ‘‘Crisis and political representation in North Africa. Institutional arrangements and protests’ (2018-2022) [CSO2017-84949-C3-2-P] financed by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness. In recent years she has published several articles on gender, participation in civil society and social mobility in North Africa:

-“Associations and young people during the Tunisian transition: pluralism, socialisation, and democratic legitimation?”, The Journal of North African Studies, 26/2: 251- 271, 2021 (With T. Desrues).

-“Aperçus sur la question de la mobilité sociale et la reproduction des élites à travers l’enseignement supérieur”, in A. Rouag (ed.) Les jeunes, l’Ecole et l’Education. Paris : L’Harmattan, 235-256, 2016 (with F. Zahid and T. Desrues).

Hamida El Bour, Institute of Press and Information Sciences (IPSI)

Hamida EL BOUR holds a PhD in Sociology and has been a professor at the Tunisian Institute of Press and Information Science (IPSI) since 2000. She was the Director of the Journalism Department from 2008-2011, 2011-2014 and 2014-2015. She served as head of the media monitoring unit at the Independent Higher Instance for Elections (ISIE) after the Tunisian “revolution” (July - November 2011). From February 14, 2015 to April 12, 2017, she was appointed President and CEO of the Tunis Afrique Presse Agency (TAP). Since August 10, 2017, she is the Director of IPSI.

Her main publications are related to the journalistic profession, activism and gender:

-2019. « Les femmes dans les médias, questions de discours, de genre, de représentations - entre visibilités et invisibilités. Introduction. »Iin special issue “Les femmes dans les medias”, French Journal for Media Research, 11/2019. (with Zeineb Touati and Nawel Chaouni).

- 2017. Negotiating Journalism Core Values and Cultural Diversity, OSLO, Nordicom (Shared Horizons Research Project) (Co-ed.).

References

Abdo-Katsipis, C. B. (2017). “Women, Political Participation, and the Arab Spring: Political Awareness and Participation in Democratizing Tunisia”. Journal of Women, Politics & Policy, 38 (4), 413-429. https://doi.org/10.1080/1554477X.2016.1268870

Google Scholar Crossref

Al-Farshishi, W. (2016). Domestic and International Politics of Funding and Regulation. In: N. Erakat & N. Saghieh (Eds.). NGOs in the Arab World Post-Arab Uprisings The legal agenda (pp. 49-97). Tadween Publishing George Mason University.

Google Scholar Crossref

Agrikoliansky, É. & Sommier, I. (Es.) (2005). Radiographie du mouvement altermondialiste. Paris: La Dispute.

Google Scholar Crossref

Allam, N. (2017). Women and the Egyptian Revolution. Engagement and Activism during the 2011 Arab Uprisings. Princeton University.

Google Scholar Crossref

Andolina, M. W., Jenkins, K., Zukin C. & Keeter, S. (2003). “Habits from Home, Lessons from School: Influences on Youth Civic Engagement”. PS: Political Science and Politics, 36 (2), 275-280. https://doi.org/10.1017/S104909650300221X

Google Scholar Crossref

Antonakis, A. (2019). Renegotiating Gender and the State in Tunisia between 2011 and 2014. Power, Positionality, and the Public Sphere. Politik und Gesellschaft des Nahen Ostens. Springer VS, Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-25639-5_10

Google Scholar Crossref

Barrières, S. & Krefah, A. (2018). Des rapports de genre inchangés? Enquête sur le mouvement pour le droit au travail dans la région de Kasserine. In : A. Allal & V. Geisser (Eds.). Tunisie. Une démocratisation au-dessus de tout soupçon? (pp. 313-330). Paris: CNRS Editions.

Google Scholar Crossref

Belschner, J. & Garcia de Paredes, M. (2021). “Hierarchies of Representation. The redistributive effects of Gender and Youth Quotas”. Representation, 57 (1), 1-20. https://doi.org/10.1080/00344893.2020.1778510

Google Scholar Crossref

Ben Mami, A. & Gobe, E. (2021). “A new offer of commitment and work for qualified youth? Democratic monitoring associations in post-Ben Ali Tunisia”. The Journal of North African Studies, 26 (2), 272-293. https://doi.org/10.1080/13629387.2019.1665287

Google Scholar Crossref

Benstead, L. J. (2019). Tunisia. In: S. Franceschet, M. Krook & N. Tan, N. (Eds.) Global Handbook on Women’s Political Rights (pp. 517-530). London: Palgrave McMillan.

Google Scholar Crossref

Berriane, Y. (2013). Femmes, associations et politique à Casablanca. Rabat: Centre Jacques Berque.

Google Scholar Crossref

Burns, N., Schlozman, K. L. & Verba, S. (2001). The Private Roots of Public Action: Gender, Equality, and Political Participation. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

Google Scholar Crossref

Cervera-Marzal, M. (2015). « Domination masculine dans le militantisme ». SociologieS [online], Premiers textes, mis en ligne le 26 mai 2015, URL : http://journals.openedition.org/sociologies/5116

Google Scholar Crossref

Charrad, M. & Zarrugh, A. (2014). “Equal or Complementary? Women in the New Tunisian Constitution after the Arab Spring”. The Journal of North African Studies, 19 (2), 230–243. https://doi.org/10.1080/13629387.2013.857276

Google Scholar Crossref

Cicognani, E., Zani, B., Fournier, B., Gavray, C. & Born M. (2012), “Gender differences in youths’ political engagement and participation. The role of parents and of adolescents’ social and civic participation”, Journal of Asolescence, 35, 561-576.

Google Scholar Crossref

Debuysere, L. (2016). “‘La Femme’ Before and After the Tunisian Uprising: (Dis)continuities in the Configuration of Women in the Truth Regime of ‘Tunisianité’”. Middle East law and governance, 8 (2-3), 201-227. https://doi.org/10.1163/18763375-00802005

Google Scholar Crossref

Debuysere, L. (2018). “Between feminism and unionism: the struggle for socio-economic dignity of working-class women in pre- and post-uprising Tunisia”. Review of African Political Economy, 45 (155), 25-43. https://doi.org/10.1080/03056244.2017.1391770

Google Scholar Crossref

Desrues, T. & Velasco Arranz, A. (2021). “Associations and young people during the Tunisian transition: pluralism, socialisation, and democratic legitimation?”, The Journal of North African Studies, 26(2), 251-271. https://doi.org/10.1080/13629387.2019.1665286

Google Scholar Crossref

Desrues, T. & Velasco Arranz, A. (2015). “Jóvenes y activismo político y social en el Magreb: los participantes en el Foro social mundial de Túnez en 2013”, Revista de Estudios Internacionales Mediterráneos (REIM), 19, 15-39. http://dx.doi.org/10.15366/reim2015.19.002

Google Scholar Crossref

Dunezat, X. (2009). Trajectoires militantes et rapports sociaux de sexe. In O. Fillieule & P. Roux (Eds.). Le sexe du militantisme (pp. 243-260). Paris: Presses de Sciences Po.

Google Scholar Crossref

Fargues, Ph. (1996). La demografía de la familia en el Magreb: una clave para comprender la política. In M. A. Roque (Ed.) Las culturas del Magreb. Antropología, historia y sociedad (pp. 129-141). Barcelona: Institut Catala de la Mediterrania d’Estudis y Cooperació.

Google Scholar Crossref

Fillieule, O. & Roux, P. (Eds.) (2009). Le sexe du militantisme. Paris: Presses de Sciences Po.

Google Scholar Crossref

Flahault, E. & Guardiola, A. (2009). « Genre et associations en Europe: le pouvoir en question », Informations sociales, 1(151), 128-136.

Google Scholar Crossref

Giulia, D. (2014). “Tunisian Women's Activism after the January 14 Revolution: Looking within and towards the Other Side of the Mediterranean.” Journal of International Women's Studies, 15(2), 16-32. http://vc.bridgew.edu/jiws/vol15/iss2/2

Google Scholar Crossref

Khalil, A. (2014a). “Gender Paradoxes of the Arab Spring”, The Journal of North African Studies, 19 (2):131-136. https://doi.org/10.1080/13629387.2014.885782

Google Scholar Crossref

Khalil, A. (2014b). “Tunisia’s Women: Partners in Revolution”, The Journal of North African Studies, 19 (2): 186-199. https://doi.org/10.1080/13629387.2013.870424

Google Scholar Crossref

Mahfoudh, D. & Mahfoudh, A. (2014). “Mobilisations des femmes et mouvement féministe en Tunisie”. Nouvelles Questions Féministes, 33(2), 14-33.

Google Scholar Crossref

Mahfoudh Draoui, D. (2013). Rapport sur les associations qui oeuvrent pour l’égalité des chances en Tunisie, CREDIF – 2013 accessed at https://www.cawtarclearinghouse.org/storage/AttachementGender/Les-associations-qui-%c5%93uvrent-egalit%c3%a9_Tunisie.pdf

Google Scholar Crossref

Marzouki, I. (1993). Le mouvement des femmes en Tunisie au XXième siècle: féminisme et politique. Paris/Tunis: Maisonneuve et Larose / Cérès Production.

Google Scholar Crossref

Muxel, A. (2010). Avoir 20 ans en politique : les enfants du désenchantement, Paris, Editions Seuil.

Google Scholar Crossref

Pérez Beltrán, C. (2018). “La ley tunecina sobre la eliminación de la violencia contra la mujer: la norma y el debate”. Revista de Estudios Internacionales Mediterráneos, 25, 32-59. https://doi.org/10.15366/reim2018.25.003

Google Scholar Crossref

Pérez Beltrán, C. & García Marín, J. (2015). “Las libertades públicas en Túnez tras las revueltas de 2011”. Revista CIDOB d’Afers Internacionals, 109, 69–90, http://www.jstor.org/stable/24364602.

Google Scholar Crossref

Putnam, R. D. (1993). Making Democracy Work: Civic Traditions in Modern Italy, Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Google Scholar Crossref

Sawicki, F. & Siméant, J. (2009). « Décloisonner la sociologie de l’engagement militant. Note critique sur quelques tendances récentes des travaux français ». Sociologie du Travail, 51(1),97-125. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soctra.2008.12.006

Google Scholar Crossref

Scott, A. F. (1992). Natural Allies. Women Associations in American History. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.

Google Scholar Crossref

Stephan, R. & Charrad, M. (2020). Women Rising: In and Beyond the Arab Spring. Bew York: New York University Press.

Google Scholar Crossref

Taylor, V. & Whittier, N. (1998). “Guest Editors. Special Issue on Gender and Social Movements”. Part 1. Gender and Society, 12(6):622-625.

Google Scholar Crossref

Tchernonog, V., Noguès, H. & Tabariès, M. (2007). Le paysage associatif français, 2007: mesures et évolutions: profil, activités, budget, financement, dirigeants, gouvernance, emploi salarié, travail bénévole. Paris: Dalloz.

Google Scholar Crossref

Verba, S., Schlozman, K. L. & Brady, H. E. (1995). Voice and equality: civic voluntarism in American politics. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Google Scholar Crossref

Wilde, G., Zimmer, A., Obuch K. & Panreck I-C. (Eds.) (2018). Civil Society and Gender Relations in Authoritarian and Hybrid Regimes: New Theoretical Approaches and Empirical Case Studies. Opladen, Germany: Barbara Budrich Publishers.

Google Scholar Crossref