Women's movement in Tunisia: From the Formation of the Islamic Approach to the Emergence of the Secularist Perspective (1881-1956)

From the first decades of the twentieth century, with the advent of French colonization (1881-1956), women and their rights came into focus. During this period, following the influence and growth of the religious reform movement in the region, the dominant discourse in Tunisia was the discourse of Islamic modernity. Proponents of women's rights also took an Islamic approach to defending feminism, using religious interpretations to put religious concepts at the service of the feminist movement. Issues such as hijab, women's education and employment, polygamy and the right to divorce were challenged, but were met with a backlash from the public and some traditionalist scholars. The main issue of the present study is, firstly, what factors led to the evolution of the status of women and the formation of women's advocacy movements during the colonial period, and secondly, what were the consequences of these developments? Findings show that factors such as the arrival of modernity in Tunisia, the role of colonialism, the support of Islamic modernists for women's rights and the formation of unions had an effective role in improving the social status of women and issues such as girls' schools In social and political activities, it was one of the important consequences of the reforms. These reforms paved the way for further wider developments, namely government support for feminism and the emergence of a secular women's movement during Tunisia's independence.