Tunisia: women protest for freedom and equal rights

In Tunis, hundreds of women took to the streets this Saturday to claim their rights equal to those of men.

A subject considered taboo in the Arab world.

Tunisia is the Muslim country in North Africa that grants women more rights than other countries in the region and, since last year, Tunisia has allowed Muslim women to marry non-Muslim men.

But the subject of inheritable rights is still largely taboo and that is why protesters went to the parliament headquarters of the capital, Tunis, to demand equal rights.

Joined by men, women protesters wore slogans demanding an end to inheritance laws based on Islamic law.

This usually gives men double portion of what women get.

“It is true that Tunisian women have more rights than other Arab women, but we want to be compared to European women,” said Kaouther Boulila, an activist.

“We just want our rights.”

In August, President Beji Caid Essbsi, a secular politician, set up a committee to draft proposals to promote women’s rights.

Tunisia was hailed as the only “success of the Arab Spring” following the political freedoms established after the ousting of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in 2011.