PI: Charitra Shreya Pabbaraju, MPhil Student, University of Oxford
Grant Amount and Grant Fund: $2,500 Alma Ostrom and Leah Hopkins Civic Education Fund
Project Abstract: The research project investigates the role of women in politics and civil society, and feminist coalitions in particular, during Tunisia’s democratic transition (2011-2021). Existing research on women’s political participation during democratic transitions generally concludes that women participate in revolutions and the early years of democratic transitions but stop shortly after. In Tunisia, this was not the case. Both conservative (Islamist) and liberal (secular) women entered politics in historic numbers during the 2010-2011 Arab Spring and remained in politics. Tunisian women made up approximately 30% of elected officials, compared to the global average of 24.3%. They also established 300 new women’s rights organizations (compared to two before the Arab Spring). Over the past decade, liberal and conservative women activists and politicians formed coalitions that transcended ideological and political differences. These coalitions enabled them to draft, lobby, and pass crucial gender legislation throughout the democratic transition.
Social and political actors who form coalitions despite deep ideological divisions during moments of political uncertainty deserve to be studied because they provide a model of increased cooperation across political and ideological differences when rights are up for debate. The research is especially salient during the rise of the Global Right and conservatism because conservative actors are resurrecting the old debates about women’s political, social, and bodily rights.