Article Type: Research Article Article Citation: Khedija Arfaoui. (2020). BCHIRA BEN MRAD: A PIONEER FEMINIST
(1913-1993). International Journal of Research -GRANTHAALAYAH, 8(8), 302-318. https://doi.org/10.29121/granthaalayah.v8.i8.2020.1058 Received Date: 10 August 2020 Accepted Date: 31 August 2020 Keywords: Women Feminist Movement Feminism Women’s Rights Education Islam Code of Personal Status
Emancipation Culture Freedom Can one understand the present without knowing the past? Isn’t life a continuation of the past and doesn’t the present owe many of its characteristics to the past? Asking these questions helps one to figure out how women who lived in a secluded and closed environment were able to break the walls that separated them from the public sphere. It is thus that we come to realize and understand how Bchira Ben Mrad’s (from now on: BBM) initiative in the early 1930s did not start from nowhere but had its origins in the women’s past of her country.
1. INTRODUCTIONEarly resistance
of Tunisian women “And what if Tunisia
had always been “feminist”? This thesis makes it possible in particular to
explain that the Code of Personal Status, adopted in 1956, became the custom so
easily[1]”
(Fawzia Zouari, 56) 1.1. A BACKGROUND OF STRONG WOMEN LEADERS
Bchira Ben Mrad had a
host of prominent female figures who have shown courage, resistance and pride,
and who inspired her activism. A few examples are worth considering for they
show women who went beyond the limits imposed on them by culture, traditions
and religion, breaking taboos and leaving their names in history. For, Tunisian
women were saints and priestesses and held important religious duties, hence
“the cult of Tanit, a Carthaginian and Phoenician
Goddess, still survives today in the Tunisian women’s memory and behavior”
(Zouari, 56). Several Carthaginian goddesses were represented holding
parchments, showing that even in bygone days, Tunisian women had an education.
In the 9th century B.C., Dido, also known as Elyssa, came from
Phoenicia and became the queen of Carthage. At a time when history and legend
mixed, even in the Christian era, Saint Perpetua, first female writer, was a
patron saint for mothers and wives. At the end of the 600s, Amazigh El Kahena bravely and victoriously ruled tribes during
thirty-five years: a distinguished resistant to the Arab-Muslim conquest, she
gloriously defeated Hassan Ibn Nooman’s
Arab troups and chased them as far as Gabes, in Tunisia. Betrayed by her own people, she found
refuge in El Djem where she was finally captured and
decapitated, her head offered to the caliph Abdelmalek
in Syria. The name El Kahena—which means the person
who knows what is going to happen--was given to her by the Arabs. Her origin is
not clear: some say she was from a Byzantine descent, others that she was a
Jew. Whatever her creed, she did not fight in the name of religion, but in
defense of her native land and for her people. In the 9th
century, Fatima el-Fehria from Kairouan founded the
famous mosque of the Karawiyyine, in Fez, Morocco.
Saida Manoubia, (1180-1257) is another case, for she
dared enter another forbidden world for women: that of religion and also of
men. How did she manage to be admitted in that world? She had studied the
Qur’an and became a well-known and respected saint. Very well-read, she had a
strong personality and spent her life helping the poor and the homeless. She
was rewarded by an honorific title that has been conferred to no other woman:
she became the head of all imams, and imams were all males! She worked to earn
a living, refusing marriage and economic dependency, never accepting any
financial help from anyone. Her popularity, her charisma and her beauty were
such that she overcame criticisms. She was respected and loved to the end.
Hence the sanctuary built under her name (Zouari, 57). Princess Aziza Uthmana 1606-1669), the grand-daughter of the governor of
Tunis, Uthman Dey, and first wife of Hamouda Pacha, Bey of Tunis (1631-1666) freed her slaves before
even Tunisia abolished slavery in 1846, and gave her fortune to charitable
works. She also paid for the freedom of people held as prisoners. She provided
for poor girls the means to get married and founded a hospital that still bears
her name in the Kasbah of Tunis (Tchaicha and Arfaoui, 15). These women leaders
and many others were bound to leave an impact and serve as examples to follow
in order to bring changes in the status of women. 2.
IMPACT
OF 19TH CENTURY WAY OF LIVING ON BCHIRA BEN MRAD
Like the rest of the
Arab world, Tunisia had eras of greatness, prosperity and progress. In the 19th
century, there already was a general trend among reformers that girls’
education was fundamental to the development of the country and that illiteracy
was the main cause of their underdevelopment (Zangar).
The founding fathers of this reformist trend, scholars like Abdelaziz Thaalbi, Hedi Sebaî
and others were keen on learning about other countries, in the Arab world as
well as in the West and they read what was written there. They were set on
fighting illiteracy and ignorance as declared by Mahmoud Kabadou
(1812-1871), a scholar of Quranic Studies and a professor at Zeituna Mosque (Chammam, 6). They
expressed their belief that the Qur’an never was against girls’ education but
that it made for an equal right to education for both sexes. Like Kacem Amin in Egypt, Tahar Haddad
who in 1930, wrote Our Women in the Shari 'a and Society « والمجتمع الشّريعة في امرأتنا », and Habib Bourguiba later on, they
justified the reforms they were putting forth by using the Qur’an itself. If we consider women
with the feeling that they are inferior, without taking into account their
humility and social forfeiture, such an attitude can be but one aspect of our
ignorance of ourselves and a proof that we are accepting our humility as well
as our forfeiture. If we sincerely love and respect women, we have to strive to
improve their personalities: that would be a sign of self-respect on our part.
(Tahar Haddad, 15) While modernist
trends were thus spreading all over the Arab world, reports show 19th
century women still living under a patriarchal system in which the father was
head of the household, imposing his rule on the entire family. The Muslim
family was conservative and traditional particularly in urban areas for in
rural areas women could find seasonal work harvesting or olive-cropping, with
their husbands: they would not have been able to work if veiled. But, until the
fifties, “most Tunisians still believed women’s education was a form of
religious heterodoxy” (Secrétariat d’Etat à l’Information, 7). “Adamant, devout conservatives, would close their ears
and ask God’s forgiveness whenever they were told about modernization,” de Montety[2] wrote.
“Women who dared challenge this system by refusing the authority that curtailed
their freedom to choose the man they wished to marry, for example, or who
complained of a husband’s lack of consideration, could be sent to Dar Jaoued, a place where disobedient daughters and wives were
placed to preserve the family’s honor, until they learned to obey the social
rules imposed on them (total obedience to father and husband), which only the
Code of Personal Status (CPS)[3] put an
end to in 1956. No court decision was needed for a man to send a disobedient
wife or daughter there (Largueche, 1991). Repudiation and
unilateral divorce were a major cause of concern and left women helpless. In
fact, it was dependency that made women accept their fate because they did not
want to live with the stigma of being divorcees. As to polygamy, even though
legal, it was far from being general. Indeed, very few men had more than one
wife. At most, a man could marry several times, but seldom with more than one
wife at a time. In an interview, BBM said she was against polygamy. Women are
the first to be concerned about the issue. She said that women should not
accept to marry a man who is already married. Those who do have their dignity
and humanity trampled upon (Nissa, 14). The family
was managed and controlled by the head of the family: the father. All decisions
were taken by him. That was the fabric of life in Tunisia in the 19th
century and in the rest of the Maghreb and it continued although less and less
strictly, well into the twentieth century. In spite of that, BBM thought that
women had to defend their rights in order to play a role in society. Lack of
education was not particular to girls though, for fathers also privileged their
youngest sons whom they allowed to have an education at the expense of the
eldest who had to quit school and help them run the family’s business or
farming and their schooling was therefore limited to the kuteb, a place where children learned the Qur’an (the practice is still
relevant today, this being an easy way to have one’s children memorize the
Qur’an) under the guidance of a tutor; they also had a primary education. Those of the girls
who were lucky to have an open-minded father had a primary education while
religious education was fairly general, even if purely oral. In such a context,
the world of men being closed to them, girls were trained in home economics,
helping their overworked mother take care of her too many children[4]. Girls’
education was a primary concern for both men and women making for the creation
of a private school for Muslim girls at the end of the 19th century,
close to Bab Souika. In 1904, Abdelaziz Thaalbi declared “It is imperative that Tunisian women
enjoy their rights and take what is rightfully theirs in life…” (Chammam, 7-9). There had been a few schools for girls,
mainly for Christian and Jewish girls, with some Muslim girls belonging to the
elite. Several institutions had been founded by missionaries. Known first as
the Millet School because it was headed by Louise Renée Millet, the wife of the
French General Resident, the Rue du Pacha School was
the first non-missionary school for girls with a modern curriculum. It was
founded on 1 May 1900[5]. Miss Zobeida Amira was its first Tunisian principal. In 1957, it
became the Rue du Pacha Girls’ Secondary School. The
first women that were to play a role in women’s emancipation came out from that
historical school. BBM was one of them. There were very few pupils at first,
belonging to the middle-class but their numbers increased with time. They were
veiled and never walked to/from school unaccompanied. They could not be seen
from outside the school walls and had their meals brought to them so as to
avoid being in the streets too often. Girls’ national education started then,
albeit on a small scale. That education represented an asset even though short
for it provided girls with the guarantee of finding a husband in the well-to-do
society. From this, one can see that education gave girls a value, one that
many wanted to have. Men did not expect more education, believing that it was
enough for a woman to be able to read and write, help her children eventually
do their homework and they took pride in that. The “Certificat
d’études” obtained at the end of primary education
was so important for both boys and girls that many had it proudly framed and
hung in the living-room or place of work for everyone to see. In fact, many a
girl was quite an artist in the embroidery sector. Girls either worked at home
or their mother would have them go to a teacher’s (Mâalma) in the field and learn
the basics of sewing and embroidering. They knew that what was lurking on the
horizon for them was marriage and they usually married quite young. BBM was 17
when she married. On her wedding day, her nephew Moez
Karoui reports, she had a last glance at her desk and asked her youngest
sister, Om Heni, to keep everything as they were and
not to touch anything. She wanted to find everything as she had left them
whenever she would come on a visit. She loved her sisters so much she believed
she would come back as often as she wished, which she definitely did for her
husband never disapproved with what she was doing. When she married, she knew
nothing about marriage or men. Her life was limited to her family circle and
centered on learning the Qur’an and reading. Sheikh Mohamed Salah Ben Mrad would not let his daughters stay in the company of
other women for he did not want them to listen to their conversations. Only his
mother had this privilege. BBM married Salah Zahar, a
man she had not even ever heard about; neither did she know anything about his
family. But, she reported, he was very kind and loving and so was his mother.
He would spoil her, offering her expensive presents. She liked to spend summers
at her father’s houses, with her husband’s full consent for he never objected
to that. She really had nothing to complain about. However, BBM expressed her
sadness at not having had any children, confessing that she had had many
abortions because she had married too young. Childlessness, however, probably
allowed her to find the time to have activities outside of the home. Hence, BBM moved
from her father’s authority to that of her husband, becoming the spouse of a
man she had not chosen but one her father had wanted her to marry. Very often,
a girl would be “promised” to a cousin or to the son of a friend of her father.
The practice of marrying a cousin was quite common throughout the country for
it had advantages: it strengthened family ties, although it often caused the
birth of children with physical disabilities, but it also allowed property to
remain within the family and not fall into the hands of strangers. If not so, there
were women known as matchmakers who would visit families with daughters to
marry, with photos of a young man looking for a bride, and they might also be
given a photo of the girl so that the groom-to-be could see what the girl
looked like. Many marriages took place through the work of those matchmakers.
That was the way girls lived, with no expectations but marriage, then
motherhood and a way of life no different from that of their mothers. For their
future was to be wives and mothers, entirely dependent on men. They were to
procreate and preferably give birth to sons, so as to ensure that the father’s
name would remain whereas a girl would give children who would have their
father’s name. This trend was to weaken with time, particularly after independence,
with a change towards marriage and family life (Mahfoudh-Draoui). 3.
19TH
CENTURY TUNISIAN WOMEN TAKE ACTION
What was women’s
place in the family in the 19th century? The 19th century
was an era of reforms proposed by a number of scholars who were open to other
cultures and ideas. It was marked by the promulgation of the Fundamental Pact (Ahd-al-Aman) in 1857 by Ahmed Bey that made
for equality of all citizens, Muslim, Christian and Jews, independently of
their religion. It was the first in the Arab world and in Africa. It paved the
way for independence from the Ottoman Empire (1881, with the establishment of
the French protectorate) and a passage to modernity. This Pact was followed by
the short-lived first Constitution in the Arab world in 1859. Ideas of freedom
and equality of rights were in the air and were bound to have an impact. Yet,
women remained cloistered in the home and so, the question one may ask: how
could their voices be heard in such a closed world? Women lived in a strict
patriarchal world with a clear division between the sexes and the absence of
women in the public sphere was a fact.
For, “Islamic family law regulated family life in Tunisia. Islamic
family law places women in a subordinate status by giving power over women to
men as husbands and as male kin (Charrad, 28). How
could one find information about women’s private lives at the time that
preceded independence? Dalenda Largueche found the answer by turning to the Court Houses
throughout the country. Indeed, there she could find clear information about
family life and relations between women and men within the family, even very
intimate ones on their very sexuality. Thus is one
able to discover “a female identity, complex and plural” through “the court of
justice as a space of the fabric of women’s identity and gender regulation” (Larguèche, 143). Shari’a courts and notary records thus give researchers an
abundance of information about women and the family. The women that emerge from
this data appear as resistant to injustices that curtailed their personhood and
dared go to court to demand justice through Shari’a. In spite of the gendered
fabric of life, several of the plaintiffs obtained satisfaction. Women could
complain of the sexual impotence of their husband and obtain, after proof of
the fact, separation and divorce. In some instances, a woman could decide about
her own marriage without the consent of her father/tutor, be she a virgin or
previously married. A woman could obtain divorce provided she gave her husband
“a compensation payment” (Larguèche, 144). At least,
that was a way of freeing oneself from a marriage relationship one does not
like. This practice was not rare in the country. Marriage contracts are also
important revelators of women’s authority in marriage, since they allowed women
to impose monogamy: more than a thousand years ago, in the 9th
century, a unique contract, Al-çadâq al-qayrawânî, sealed
the wedding of Abu Jaafar Al Mansour, a powerful Abbasid Caliph and Arwa
Al Himayariya. The latter had accepted to marry him
under the condition that monogamy should be specified in her wedding contract,
establishing thus monogamy for the first time in the Arab world. That contract
gave a woman the power to repudiate her husband and put an end to her marriage
relationship should he marry a second wife or have a concubine. If the Qur’an
recognizes polygamy, it does not recommend it though: indeed, it allows up to
four wives but under the condition that they be treated equally. But, is it
possible to treat four wives equally? Therefore, a man should have but one
wife. This Kairouan contract is an expression of women’s awareness and desire
to abolish laws and rules that were detrimental to their dignity, happiness and
well-being. To get married, a woman needed a tutor, but she was the only one to
take the decision to divorce. This legal formidable step forward demonstrates
the will of enlightened jurists of the time to protect their daughters and
women against polygamous marriages (Boukhris, 6-7). It is interesting to note that this wedding
contract was to facilitate the abolition of polygamy in the CPS in 1956 for it
did not come about as something completely new: it had, indeed, a historic
precedent! These and other records are enough to reveal women’s awareness of
their rights and of their resistance to violence against their personhood and
dignity as well as their legitimate desire to be happy in every sense of the
word. In 1876, a girl from Kairouan petitioned the court against her brother
who had her marry against her will. She obtained her divorce (Larguèche, 145). Did all women go to
courts though? For this is a question to ask when we know how closed-in the
Muslim family used to be. According to court records, women from the notability
did not for a question of respectability in order not to harm the family’s
reputation. Those that did had a lower class status (Largèche, 149). Through the courts, private life became
public and it is not surprising that these private lives’ stories left marks
among women in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. 4.
WOMEN’S
STATUS IN THE 1920S AND 1930S
“A woman is traditionally submitted to her
father, then to her brother, then to her husband who, himself obeys his father”
(Vincent: 4) Women were certainly
respected while carrying out their duties as housewives and mothers. They took
care of the family while the husband provided for their needs. True, the
husband’s authority ruled their lives and some women might have experienced
some forms of frustrations and violence, but they had their dignity preserved
and their voice would be heard whenever needed. Resistance against the
colonizer was a good opportunity for some women to offer their services and
thus, gain some liberty and visibility in the process. They did not manage
their efforts to achieve that. Mahfoudh-Draoui gives
a few names such as: Hallouma Mallouli
1903 from Ras Jbel, Khadija Rabeh
1910 from Metouia, Mabrouka
Gasmi 1909 from Nefza, Khedija ben Ali 1907 from Douz, Cherifa Fayech 1906 from Metouia, BBM 1913 from Tunis, HalimaTriki
1916 from Agereb, chedlia Bouzgarrou 1917 from Tunis, Cladys
Adda 1921 from Gabes, Fatma Enneifar
1920 from Jebel Bou Hadma, Wassila ben Saida 1930 from Sfax, etc. These names are
significant because they show that women’s awakening to the necessity to take
part in social and political activities was not limited to one region but that
it was prevalent throughout the country. With the support of a close relative,
generally the father or brother, these early activists joined the resistance
movement and were thus able to put a foot in the outer world, traditionally
closed to them. BBM, who is the subject of this article, was one of many women throughout
the country that dared emerge in that world of men and mark their presence for
the welfare of their country. Several have remained anonymous, but a few have
been able to act and make their voice heard. BBM lived in a well-off,
harmonious family environment with a loving father who provided everything for
his daughters’ comfort and happiness. Haddad reports on how Islam fought
against the “superstitious disdain” Arabs felt about daughters but, he asked:
“hadn’t Prophet Mohamed declared: ‘I am the father of girls’?” For the Prophet
wanted his daughters to be loved (Haddad, 27). Sheikh Ben Mrad
felt the same way towards his daughters. Growing up with such a loving father,
allowed BBM to be able to act and bring changes in her life and in those of
other women in spite of the fact she was hardly ten at her mother’s death. She
was a feminist activist as she liked to claim. Profoundly Muslim and very
well-read as well as well-travelled, in particular she visited France and
Eastern Europe (Russia, Poland and Romania) where she could admire women at
work (Karoui). She combined good morals and piety with learning and like others
in that period she made good and strong use of these two issues in her combat
for improving other women’s lives. This was in accordance with the mentality of
the time that required “proper behavior” on the part of women: “Preoccupation
with female purity and modesty is at the center of the social norms governing
gender relations in the Middle East… Women thus carry a large share of the
burden for safeguarding the family lineage and tribal honor” (Charrad, 62-63). Growing modernization was beginning to
change the fabric of life, but it was still managed by a strong patriarchal
system. An uncle, a grand-father could watch over a girl’ life and make her
leave school. BBM’s uncle tried to do that but she was lucky because her father
would not listen to his advice, set as he was on giving his daughters an
education that would serve them in their life. Still, BBM lived in
an age when women led a secluded life, under close scrutiny on the part of the
male members of their family, but also of mothers, grandmothers, aunts who
watched over young girls very severely. Wassilla Ben
Ammar, Habib Bourguiba’s second wife, said about life then that going out
without a veil for a girl meant she wouldn’t find a husband. It was even worse
if a woman recognized a man in the street (Vincent, 6). A girl might receive
visits from Christian or Jewish female friends, but she would not be allowed to
go and visit them! She could also see that the latter led much freer lives and
wish she could be as free as them. A few had private tutors to learn the basics
of Arabic and mostly the Qur’an. She could listen to the radio, if she was
allowed to for a brother might decide that it was not good for her: wouldn’t it
make her want to imitate the Western girls and ladies she could see from her
windows? Rare were those who had the opportunity to travel and Wassila Ben Ammar was one of them. She went to France in
1929, without anyone to escort her, without a veil, and was even able to swim
in a swimming-suit! (Vincent, 6). BBM belonged to the same generation,
therefore, she was aware of women’s gradual emancipation; she knew about the
existence of the women of the past depicted in the first part of this article
who had managed to be strong in spite of cultural and religious taboos. She was
also aware of the discriminations against women. That awareness gave her the
sense of initiative that allowed her to become the leader of the women’s
renaissance in Tunisia as suggested by the title of Mahmoud Chemmam’s
book, “Bchira Ben Mrad, the
leader of the feminist movement in Tunisia” (Bchira Ben Mrad, Zaîmatu
el Nahdha el nissaîya bitunis). In the 19th and early 20th
centuries, women were hardly visible, as their lives were severely controlled
by social, religious and cultural norms. One may wonder how a feminist movement
could have emerged in those circumstances. However, current events taking place
throughout the country had paved the way for this formidable event to take
place (Arfaoui, 2007). Indeed, looking back into
history, one finds out that, despite their utter dependency on men, even in the
19th century, there had been women who had sued father, brother or
husband and obtained satisfaction in spite of male domination and of the fact
that their lives were controlled by shari’a law. Thus, a woman could sue her father for making
her marry against her will, obtain a divorce if/when her husband was declared
sexually impotant. Such cases, and they were
frequent, could not be ignored and thus one can easily deduct that they were
the seeds of the feminism that BBM was to espouse and work for. In those decades
that marked the early 20th century, Tunisian women lived in the
intimacy of their home. Their world was thus, concentrated on reading the
Qur’an, housework, cooking, breast-feeding, socializing children, sewing… Men
came in and out, but it was not so for them. When and if they did, they were
veiled, with a white sefsari
in the Tunis region that graciously covered their body while at the same time,
sparing them the trouble of worrying about what they wore underneath. Their
very windows were made so that they could not be seen from the street. Some
women however, were lucky to have an open-minded father, brother or husband;
they had private tutors at home and decided they could help others (Arfaoui, 2007). 5.
BCHIRA
BEN M’RAD’S STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE AND FOR WOMEN’S EMANCIPATION
BBM was one of those
lucky women. She was the daughter of Salouha Belkhodja and Mohamed Salah Ben Mrad,
a Hanfi
Islam Sheikh, from a bourgeois, conservative family. She was sent to a Quranic
school (kuteb)
when she was five and learned the Qur’an by rote. She was hardly ten years old
when her mother died. A well-learned and open-minded man, her father wanted his
four daughters to be educated. He taught and empowered them to be curious, to
read and learn in spite of his brother’s opposition. Bchira
and her sisters did just that although their mother had been very
traditionalist. Curiously, however, Sheikh Ben Mrad
stood in severe opposition to Tahar Haddad’s thesis
in a book entitled “Mourning Haddad’s Women[6]” in
1931, although he agreed that the latter’s views were not against Shari’a. Haddad
advocated for women’s rights to education and work. He was against the veil,
polygamy and unilateral divorce. Exiled by his peers for his too modernist
views, his academic degree was withdrawn and he was condemned not to use his
title of notary any more. He died in utter poverty and it was only much later
on that his memory was rehabilitated and identified as the first voice of
liberation for a “modern” Tunisia and that his ideas become considered to be at
the heart of the Code of Personal Status (Jelassi,
2007). BBM’s life was
centered on independence and women’s rights at a time when it was not easy to
change the way of life so strongly ruled by a rigid and strict mentality.
Indeed, it did need curiosity, courage, patience, a sense of innovation and
endurance. BBM had all those qualities. At 17, she was already thinking on how
to improve not only her own life, but that of the other women, as she knew
there were many who suffered from the restrictions imposed on them that impeded
their development. Sheikh Mohamed Salah Ben Mrad felt
it his duty to teach his daughters himself and give them the best education
possible. BBM spent one year at Rue du Pacha School
but she had to leave it because her uncle disagreed with girls’ schooling. In
compensation and against his brother’s will, Mohamed Salah Ben Mrad provided his four daughters with the best tutors from
the Zeituna Mosque who taught them “fikh”
(philology), grammar, arithmetic, as well as Farabi’s
logical reasoning and syllogism. Her grand-father, Sheikh H’Mida
Ben Mrad, a mufti and teacher of logic at Zeituna, taught the girls Farabi’s
logical reasoning and syllogism. He gave them private lessons in winter at
their house in Tourbet el Bey and in summer at their
home located in Sidi Bou Said. BBM was excellent in
Arabic, she liked poetry and learned writing. She obtained her “Certificat d’études” she reports,
3 days before her husband (Nissa, 14). She gave
conferences that were published in her father’s “Shams El Islam” (Sun of Islam), founded on 14 March 1937. On its
first issue, the article she published was entitled “Ta’un el mara wa el rajul” (Men and women assist one another) whose main
idea is the following: “women must rely on themselves to improve her status and
condition.” In another article
entitled “Allamu el mara’ in shiitum el izza wa el hayet” (Educate women
if you want dignity and life), she declares that Muslims have agreed that all
that God Almighty has imposed on his creatures is that, men and women alike
have the same human, social and religious rights. They must do their prayers,
give alms, obey God and His Prophet and educate their children in the love for
their country. The problems encountered by Muslims in this world are caused by
the non-observance of the rules of Islam. Muslims have to go back to the true
teachings of their religion and women play an important role in that. This is
why BBM’s message was “Teach women if you want dignity and life” (Chemmam, 49-51). On 20 November 1938,
BBM published on her own newspaper, “Tunis
el Fatet” (n°3) an article entitled “Women and
education” in which she declared her satisfaction to see that Tunisian women
had become modern and able to supervise things because they understood all that
relates to their country. Lawyer Tahar Snoussi reported on her fund-raising activities in his book
“El Mara” (The Woman) published in 1969.
The winter of 1932 had been particularly rude, causing floods and
desolation. An event was organized on 20 February 1932 at the home of the Khalsi family, before the women’s association was founded.
It was a great success that was reported as such by the various French and
Arabic newspapers. Women held several women-only political meetings, at Sidi Bouriga in Hammam-Lif, at the
mosque of Sidi Bou Said, at Sidi Abdelaziz mausoleum
in La Marsa, and also at Manoubia
Mausoleum in Montfleury. The meetings were held to
encourage husbands to boycott French products, and in particular monopolies’
products. According to historian Mustapha Kraiem, it
was only in September 1934 that the police reported on the first feminine
association that had a political character: “The Society of Muslim Ladies”
founded in 1932. The women who met there assessed their desire to put an end to
their seclusion so as to take part in public life. French civilian auditors
reported that women participated in the struggle for independence “according to
original modalities and original forms.” BBM explained her involvement in
politics as being the impact of her father’s alienation of the West. By the
same token, she justified her father’s stand against Haddad as being motivated
by his patriotism acting against the threat of the Westernization of Tunisian
culture: …it was my father
that instilled in me the love for my country, encouraging me as well as my
sisters, to take part in the struggle for national liberation and women’s
emancipation… And she adds: At the time of the
colonization, my father considered women to be the last bastion against
colonization. In no case could Western culture be allowed to weaken or
assimilate it. He wanted women to take part in the combat against the French.
It is for this reason that he allowed me and my sisters to go out in the street
and demonstrate, to attend political meetings with the political leaders.[7] (Cited
by Marzouki, 38) In that double
combat she was involved in, she expressed her support for her father’s
criticism of Haddad: “We have to adopt what is best in the West and not imitate
Western feminists in an indiscriminate way[8]” (Cited
by Marzouki, 82). She declared her father believed Haddad’s thesis was the
outcome of Western influence, and so, only “a mirror of the West.” Treating Islamic
family law as a sign of distinctiveness from the French colonizer, most
Tunisian nationalists of the earlier period agreed that reforms should be
postponed until they could be made a sovereign state. (Charrad,
215) BBM never hesitated
to take action and encourage women to do the same. In 1952, she made an
interesting statement against the veil, presenting it as less secure than
religious education and good morals: I say that religious
education and morality, based on solid foundations, provide young Muslim ladies
a security that is more efficient than that of the veil protecting them from
any accident. The current conditions in which the country is are those of a
renaissance…and it is necessary that we should be seen unveiled. We are too
much absorbed by the combat for our movement and for this renaissance to
deviate our attention on concerns of such a material order as that of the veil
and that we should stoop to pettiness to which the lawyers of the veil for modern
women[9] are
calling for. (Marzouki, 80) On 5 October 1934, in Moknine,
a hurried crowd, howled for their life while women screamed angrily. Window
panes broke down, screams could be heard, doors were broken open, (Borsali, 2006:15), there was panic everywhere. BBM attended several
meetings in different cities, speaking mainly on women’s education and
emancipation, never failing to make references to the Qur’an wherever it
related to women. She spoke at an event organized by the “El Akha el Kairawani[10]” (The Kairawanian Brotherhood) with the participation of Sheikh
Mokhtar Ben Mahmoud where she spoke about women’s status in the past when women
were deprived of every right as well as of freedom. They could only live under
other people’s good will. She explained that unlike people’s belief, Islam gave
women the same rights as those granted to men (Chemmam,
56). She spoke at a reception honoring North-African Students and also at Mr.
Uthman Al Kaak’s in Sidi Bou
Said. She also gave a speech to honor Tawhida Ben
Cheikh—who had graduated in medicine in Paris the previous year--on 18 April
1938. She collected funds that were used to help Tunisian male and female
students. In 1969, Maître Tahar Snoussi
reported on the help provided by BBM’s fund-raising following the floods and
heavy damages caused by the heavy rains that had fallen in the North of
Tunisia. Indeed, the charity concert at the Khalsi’s
home and the funds collected helped them alleviate the sufferings of the
victims. Thus, Chammam reports (p. 35), Tunisian
women were able to see the significance of their role in their society, as the
media of the time did not fail to report. They also learned that more could be
achieved if more women were educated to take part in the development process of
their country. On 6 March 1938, BBM celebrated the tenth
anniversary of the foundation of the Association of North African Students,
expressing her pride and satisfaction at women’s achievements for their country
and for their fellow-citizens, not forgetting the help provided to the youth
studying abroad. She repeatedly declared that no nation could develop without
the full participation of its men and women together. She was able to convince
an increasing number of women that their participation was indeed a must.
Addressing the ladies attending the conference, she insisted on the fact that
there could be no happiness in this world without education and work,
highlighting the significance of the work of her Association in its combat
against illiteracy and ignorance (Jahel). “The Association has created a library, and a club
for people to get acquainted; it has created a restaurant so that people who
find themselves in that country do not feel as exiles or lonesome” (Chammam, 43). BBM also lectured on
the importance of having men and women help one another. One of her articles
was: “Women must rely on themselves to improve their status.” It was published
in N° 1 of her father’s Shams Al-Islam
newspaper on 14 March 1937 (Chammam, 30; 45). In the
first issue of her own review, on April 1, 1938, she wrote the following
article “Tunes el Fatet
and Fatet Tunes” (The young Tunisia and the young
Tunisian woman) in which she declared how much she enjoyed announcing good
news: the name of her review predicted the best for girls who were to have an
important role in their country while acquiring a higher status. But she added,
that would be possible only if they broke away from the world of ignorance (jahl) and
followed the rules of Islam so as to be able to educate their children and
instill in them the sense of duty toward their country (Chammam,
53). BBM dealt with the
role of women in history when Islam was at the peak of its power. Women
excelled in knowledge and culture, nationalism and devotion, which had an
impact on the respect granted to Muslims. The struggle for independence was the
major issue in the country, but BBM did not miss any opportunity to speak about
women’s rights and about the necessity to have women share in the development
of the country. Asked about her activities, BBM said: We helped the Muslim
Scouts, the North-African students in France, Muslim charity associations, etc… We wanted women to help the national Movement to which
we had sensitized them. When there was famine, we organized popular soups. On the
other hand, we provided help (fund-raising, food-bags) to the imprisoned
members of the Destour. (Borsali,
2006: 17). BBM declared her
satisfaction to see that Tunisian women had finally become aware that they had
to rely on themselves for the satisfaction of their own needs so as never to be
a burden to anyone. Chemmam reported that BBM’s
awareness of women’s role in society had been progressive, starting with
women’s access to books and reviews from Egypt as seen earlier in this article
(Brouri), and then through insertion in social
literary circles of the Egyptian princess Nazli Fadhel. Mohamed Abou Al Ajfan as well as professor Mohamed Belhassen
had also praised her social and cultural activities. In fact, BBM read about
the West as well as about the Middle-East 6.
BCHIRA
BEN MRAD FOUNDS UMFT
Professor Mohamed Belhassen reports that, in the prime of her age and with
her ideas of freedom and her many activities and centers of interest, she was
ahead of her time. She fought against ignorance and archaic habits and that led
her to take action to free the members of her sex who were deprived of
education. She wanted Tunisian women to live their time and the modernity of
their age so as to learn, get an education, work and be useful to their
society. She considered it necessary for women to be educated but also always
to know about their religious duties (Chammam, 25; Nissa, 14) “A woman must be
educated and know about her religious duties,” she wrote. One of her articles
is entitled: “Teach women if you want dignity and life[11]”
(Marzouki, 81). It explains that
under-development is the consequence of people’s failure to observe religious
precepts but also of the state of ignorance and illiteracy in which women have
been maintained. Islam, she insisted, was favorable to cooperation between men
and women if a general decadence is to be avoided (Marzouki, 81). BBM had many
skills: a lecturer, an excellent cook, a piano player, she also knew how to embroider and excelled in most of the
things. She wanted to be an example to her women fellow citizens and showed
them that she had all those skills required of women and she also showed them
that she talked with men while remaining virtuous and of course, that they
should do the same. Her second article:
“A woman’s life is at home and she must have a religious and national education[12]” presented
a solution to the debate between those who were favorable to a Western
education and those who had rather follow the example given by oriental
feminists. She claimed that Islam was favorable to women’s education without
ever stating women should abandon their home. Therefore, she added, women
should be granted a training compatible with their duties. “First, they have to
be given a religious and national education, notions of home economics and
rudiments of sanitary prevention, so as to fulfill their duty of homemakers…”
(Marzouki, 82). Her third article was published in “Tunes el Fatet” and was entitled “Women and education. In 1952, she
wrote “Feminine Renaissance in Tunis[13]” In 1936, keen on
improving the lives of women who, she knew, were increasingly looking for
knowledge and action, and with the support of her father, set on devoting her
life to women’s rights, she founded UMFT (Muslim Union of Tunisian Women), the
first in Tunisia and the second in Africa and in the Arab world. BBM was to chair
that organization until its “dissolution by Habib Bourguiba at independence.
Her three sisters were members with her: Hamida Zahar
(Secretary General), Nejiba Karoui, Essia Ben Miled and Om Heni Ben Mrad. Distinguished
ladies were also members of the permanent board, Dr. Tawhida
Ben Cheikh, Badra Ben Mustapha, Nabiha
Ben Miled and others. BBM drafted its
statute and stated its three main objectives: 1)
Give
women the opportunity to know one another; 2)
Educate
girls according to Islamic morals; 3)
Promote
Arab Islamic culture among women. All of these things
were accepted with benevolence for they anchored the belief that society would
be saved thanks to women educated in the rudiments of Islam. The leaders
trusted that they would raise generations of good Muslims and therefore,
granted them their full support in their activities. However, the latter were
always first presented to them for approval, a process that continued under
both Bourguiba and Ben Ali, hence the term “state approval feminism” attributed
to Tunisian feminism. In any case, if girls were allowed to go to school and
have an education, Islamic legislators never meant there would be equality
between men and women. Not surprisingly, men were the ones that had both
education and jobs. BBM took her inspiration
from the Egyptian Huda Shaarawi and read the
newspaper she had founded, “Al-Massriya.” She also
admired the Tunisian princess Aziza Uthmana for all
the social work she had done. She used to say that women had to be educated for
a country cannot develop when half of its population is illiterate and
ignorant, a statement used later on by Habib Bourguiba to justify his decision
to provide for girls’ education and participation in the workforce, and earlier
still by Kemal Ataturk in Turkey. During 25 years of relentless fighting
against ignorance and illiteracy, although her main concern was the
independence of her country, BBM spared no efforts to provide for the education
of girls and boys as well and so, she collected money for the ones and the others.
She would write about how she wanted to devote her life to the people of her
own sex. BBM and the other activist women who had founded other organizations[14] had
opportunities to establish contacts and acquire knowledge as well as training
from other women they were able to meet, for example when they attended an
international Women’s Congress in Paris, the Women’s International Democratic
Federation, on May 26, 1945, following which, March 8 became Women’s Day from
1946 to 1952 in spite of strong opposition from the French authorities.
Colonial oppression being a major cause of concern made Bourguiba demand that
women should continue to wear the veil so as to enhance Tunisian culture in
opposition to that of the colonists. On 8 January 1929, attending a conference
given by Habiba Menchari, a young unveiled woman
advocating for women’s emancipation, Bourguiba had presented a counter
argument, urging women to wear the veil not to lose their identity and to cling
to their customs, traditions and culture in order to protect their national
identity from amalgamation with that of the colonizers[15]. In
fact, both in 1924 and 1929, Manoubia Ouertani and Habiba Menchari were
to be severely criticized by the Destour for their
opposition to the hijab and men’s ensuing domination over women (FTCR). Indeed,
women’s emancipation was seen as assimilation of the colonizers’ culture and
therefore, detrimental to the Tunisian identity and culture. Like Sheikh Ben Mrad’s, Bourguiba’s attitude did not reflect his real
position which was for women’s emancipation and therefore against the veil
which he was later on to compare to “an odious rag” but it was a form of
resistance to colonialism. 7.
BCHIRA
BEN MRAD BECOMES AN ACTIVIST AND FOUNDS THE FIRST FEMINIST ORGANIZATION
“Women have to mark their contribution in
life, they have to be given a useful religious education to be able to bear and
keep the pledge granted to them by God” (Bchira ben Mrad) BBM had a level of
education high enough for that time to develop an interest in the situation in
her country and to acquire knowledge about it. In an interview with Noura Borsali realized shortly
before her death (1993), she reported that her interest in politics started
when she was 13 or 14 when she overheard a conversation at a meeting in Sidi Bou Said among national prominent leaders such as Mahmoud
El Matri, on the disastrous impact of colonialism on
the country and learned about repression and the humiliations inflicted on her
fellow-citizens (Massy, 16). National leaders were either in exile or in jail.
Women were no part of the National Movement for independence then and action
was needed. She started to write in her father’s newspaper, Shams Al Islam founded on 14 March 1937.
In the first issue, she wrote that “men and women need one another” (Chammam, 30) and continued to develop this assessment in
the 8 following issues. She founded her own newspaper, Tunes el Fatat (The Young woman of Tunis)
in 1938, in which she provided support to Tunisian nationalism and women’s
emancipation; she also answered the criticisms made by the Zeituna
sheikhs who strongly objected to her feminist projects. “She was a thinker,”
Sonia Ben Mrad, a relative of BBM and member of the Bchira Ben Mrad Foundation said
at a press conference organized on the celebration of her one hundredth
anniversary on 21 November 2013 in Tunis (Massy, 17). Well-read, she knew about
the situation of women in other countries, in particular Turkey and Egypt and
read regularly Al-Massriya,
founded by Egyptian Houda Shahraoui
(Massy, 16). Her prior goal was to help in the decolonization process, but she
was convinced that they first had to overcome their underdevelopment, and also,
an issue she never stopped insisting upon: that they would not succeed in doing
that without women’s participation. She started to think of ways to act and of
strategies to adopt to improve women’s status. Like male reformists, she
claimed that her fellow citizens did not understand the Qur’an properly for,
she explained, the Qur’an never says anything against women’s education, making
use of the ideas of 19th century thinkers and reformers. Indeed, she
learned from them as well as from her male peers a basic understanding of her
country’s political situation and of women’s status. She was able to transmit
all that she had learned to her female fellow citizens, and she took pride in
the increasing number of women activists. She encouraged young girls to discard
the veil and wear coats in the winter time and mid-calf skirts and offered them
the possibility to travel. She cooperated with the Union of Tunisian Women
(UFT), founded in 1944 and whose members were mostly communists, like Gladys
Adda, Neila Haddad, Sofia Zouiten
and Nebiha Ben Miled, among
others. The feminism that
appeared in the 1920s and 1930s was based on education and included a number of
educated women. Tawhida Ben Cheikh[16], Badra Ben Mustapha, first Tunisian nurse, Nabiha Ben Miled, Radhia Haddad who was to be for a long
time president of the UNFT, Association of Tunisian women founded by
Bourguiba and Fathia Mzali who took over after Radhia Haddad was dismissed by Bourguiba for disobedience.
The meeting BBM organized on 18 April 1937 to pay tribute to Dr. Tawhida Ben Cheikh was a great opportunity to sensitize
women to the significance of education. She said: Ladies, this is
indeed, one of the happiest days for Tunisian women. Today, women can raise
their heads. Women have embarked on the road to greatness and regard. They have
proved that no obstacle could prevent them from moving ahead… This doctor knew
what God expected her to do. Seeking knowledge is a religious duty for every
Muslim man and every Muslim woman. This Tunisian doctor chose to live in exile
in order to fulfill her religious duty. She left her family and country to
solve the great problem of the absence of Muslim female doctors, to do her duty
for the daughters of this country. … this female doctor has come back to us
with her head proudly raised, proving that, if they really want to work,
Tunisian women can be successful and acquire the knowledge they wish for;
nothing will stop them, neither hardships nor hard work. (translated by Arfaoui, 2009: pp.155-156) Tawhida Ben Cheikh answered her by declaring that
she considered it her duty to have chosen to become a medical doctor and she
urged the ladies attending the meeting to send their daughters to school so
that they would, like herself, help their society. Tawhida
Ben Cheikh was, indeed; going to be of great help for in those days, men could
not accept to have their women examined by men and there were no female
doctors! So, it is easy to imagine she had her hands full, being the single
female doctor in the country! If women were not
quick to respond to her invitations at first, her insistence bore fruit in the
end. Branches were formed in the other cities, reaching out an increasing
number of women throughout the country so that the movement was not particular
to the city-capital[17]. She
collected money for the construction of schools for girls. That was not all for
she also thought of the number of boys who were eager to have a higher
education but did not have the means to do that. And so, she collected money
for them too. A number of young men owe their higher education success to her
endeavors. She would send them food and money. BBM kept letters
from those students, asking for her help without which they would not have been
able to continue their education in France “Mama Bchira,
send me some money so that I can pay for the rent of
my room,” one wrote, or “if you do not send me money, I will have to interrupt
my studies…” wrote another. Most of those students were to become the elite of
the country, as ministers and leaders from the Destour,
people like Jallouli Fares, Mongi
Slim, Rachid Driss, Habib Bourguiba, Behi Ladgham,, Ahmed Ben Miled, Slaheddine Bouchoucha, Mongi Baly, Mohamed Belhassine, Sadok El Mokaddem, Chedli Klibi and Hedi Nouira later on. BBM also provided
scholarships for poor girls. How did she manage to do that? She was an
excellent observer and did not miss any opportunity to learn. For example, when
she heard that activists from the Destour party had
organized a fund-raising fair in order to help Tunisian youth go and study in
France, she decided to organize one as well and obtained the agreement of two
great political figures, Ali Belhaouane and Mongi Slim. A committee was formed and they were able to
have thousands of women get together. The more women came, the more money they
could collect for their different projects. The fair was a success: a huge
amount of money was collected and given to the leaders of the Destour for the benefit of Tunisian students. The
experience was very encouraging. The Union of Muslim Women was founded a few
days later (Kais Ben Mrad; Borsali;
Chammam), in 1936. It was solidly tied to the Destourian Party, its activities following instructions and
information from its leaders. Habib Bourguiba started visiting them regularly
for he approved of their activities (Borsali, 17).
Women’s presence could be felt and seen as women went out of their seclusion
and marched in the streets, holding the Tunisian flag and singing the national
anthem together with men. They held actions against colonialism and organized
conferences and seminars with the media reporting on them, publishing the
conferences given by some of the most prominent women (Maalej).
Such activities were bound to displease the colonial powers. BBM received
threats from “La Main Rouge” (The Red Hand), a French terrorist group that
sought to curtail the Tunisian nationalist movement and was responsible for the
assassination of Farhat Hached[18],
Secretary General of the General Union of Tunisian Workers (UGTT) on 5 December
1952. She was also severely criticized by the conservative branch of Zeituna and the colonial powers often curtailed her
activities. It was for this reason that her association had to wait until 1951
to be granted a visa (Massy, 17). 1935 was a year of
political effervescence but BBM felt frustrated at the absence of women. That
developed in her the feeling that women had to take part in this struggle for
independence. Several prominent politicians had been arrested and held in exile
out of the country. Women’s mobilization was crucial for it raised awareness
and encouraged action. Several women criticized her for doing what they
considered unwomanly actions. She invited 1500 women, but only a few came and:
“they [only] came to blame me,” BBM reported bitterly in 1952. It was not easy
to change the mentalities. At one event, her father had asked his wife to meet
friends who were to come for a visit. She refused and could not be made to
change her mind. The reason was simple: she could not meet men she was not
related to because that was the way she had been brought up. To her, the men
she could meet were only her father and her husband! It was as simple as that! To avoid conflict
with the colonial powers, BBM organized her meetings in homes, presenting
independence as her major issue, claiming rights stated in the Qur’an, the
religion connotation made the organization more acceptable as there already
were Christian and Jewish organizations. “We did not speak about women’s rights
because we were right in the middle of national liberation. Our major concern
was the independence of the country,” she said (Bakalti,
16) 8.
BCHIRA
BEN MRAD AND WOMEN’S RIGHTS
Deeply involved in
the nationalist struggle, BBM did not forget her main center of interest:
women’s rights. But the fight against colonialism was a great opportunity to
get women to assemble, meet other women, know each other and establish links.
She sensitized women to the right to vote, encouraged meetings of men and
women, together at a time when meetings for both sexes were not tolerated. And
it is important to say that, because she belonged to no political party, she
represented early civil society in Tunisia. Dr. Sonia Ben Mrad
said about her that she was “… a ‘thinker,” a woman who created a coherent and
enlightened thought around women. A strong woman who had never been afraid, who
never stepped back in spite of intimidations, for example a bomb was placed in
front of her home but fortunately, it did not explode (Hammam Ensa, 2013). She encouraged women to travel, discover the
world and develop their personalities. She kept her maiden name according to
the Muslim tradition and did not adopt the European usage of taking the
husband’s name, which the generations of the sixties on were to adopt. The
activities she organized were cultural, scientific, social and political. They
helped other women, the Muslim Scouts, the North African students studying in
France, Muslim charity associations, life-saving associations, and others.
Gradually, women were sensitized to the National Movement for independence and
did not spare efforts to help. They were quick to provide help when there was
famine and offered popular soup to fight off hunger. They visited political
prisoners and brought them food, money. All the while, BBM expressed the need
to educate women as a major asset to eradicate under-development, illiteracy
and ignorance, stressing the fact that it was wrong to believe Islam banned
girls’ education. BBM said, however, that considering the fact that they were
closely watched by the colonial powers, they generally avoided speaking about
women’s rights. Still, issues like men and women equality in politics, the
right to vote for women, co-educational schools were major topics of
discussion. BBM ignored the Bey’s and the colonizers’ opposition to her
educational program for girls. She often had to show up at the police station
to be interrogated. She was even arrested. At the large political meeting of 8
April 1938, she stood, veiled next to Ali Belhaouane
who was giving a speech about the need to have a Tunisian nationalist government.
On the next day, 9 April 1938, the French authorities gave the order to shoot:
one hundred people were killed (Mariem). Indeed, they had
taken strong stands against the colonizers, they had marched, defying the
colonial powers, they had been jailed and, BBM had taken a strong position
against the belief that women’s place was the home, claiming that the Qur’an
was not understood properly. She was able to have women involved in public
life. She made them take stands against the colonial powers (Massy, 17). The first political
meeting took place at BBM’s in 1936. Its impact is not to be ignored for,
following that, several women attended the meeting where Bourguiba reported on
the national claims decided by the Party. Women’s activities in the Destour against colonization increased, drawing the
colonists’ anger: protests in front of the General Residence on 8 April; again on the next day, they were claiming constitutional
guarantees. On 11 April 1938, women also took part in protests in Tazarka. Quoting Souad Bakalti, Borsali reports that
activities against the colonizers continued in the shape of conferences for
example. Or they would meet in the most unusual places in order not to attract
attention. At first, they would meet in the Zaouia of
Sidi Brahim (Secrétariat d’Etat, 10). Then they met in hammams, homes, zaouias (different shrines the Muslim populations liked to
go to pray but also to make wishes, in the hope of finding a husband/wife, to
become pregnant for a woman, to recover from a disease…). They went to
hospitals or wherever they could meet without attracting the attention of the
police (Borsali, in Realités,
21). Other protest marches took place in December and January 1939 at the
arrival of official visitors from France. To reassure the colonizers on their
good intentions, they started by welcoming the visitors and ended their
demonstration by claiming their Arab-Muslim identity and demanding the release
of political prisoners. As a result,
they were jailed between 15 to 30 days. Female activism continued fearlessly,
challenging the colonial powers. On 15 January 1952, continuing their protests
against repression, they marched in Beja. They were sentenced by a tribunal in
Bizerte, between 3 to 6 months suspended sentence. On January 20, 34 other
women were arrested. 1952 was a year when women were particularly active and
several of them were arrested or deported in 1953. BBM was among the deportees
(Marzouki, 163-164). Women continued to act and they visited the women
activists in jail, providing them with the supplies they needed. The Destour created official female branches that were to play
a significant role. For example, in October 1951, 400 women with their children
assembled in front of the Direction of National Education. Their demands were
essentially political: they wanted Arabic to become the working language
instead of French and protested against the fact that a number of girls were
left out of school[19]. Also, on 15 January
1952, about 800 people met in Beja headed by 8 women belonging to the Destour. Bourguib recognized
women’s participation in the struggle for independence although he did not
mention BBM’s: During the national
struggle, women were not afraid to put their lives at risk, organizing
political meetings here and there, defying the colonizers. Their activities did
not go unnoticed and they were arrested and thrown in jail, like the other male
combatants. Their courage commanded men’s respect. Women took part in
demonstrations and faced bullets. A woman was even killed in action in Teboulba … (Secrétariat à l’information, 10) 9.
BCHIRA
FALLS INTO OBLIVION
BBM thus played a
significant role in different sectors, but mostly in the struggle for
independence and in women’s emancipation. What did she get in return for her achievements?
Interviews given by BBM after independence reveal a woman who is disappointed
and bitter for having been forgotten by all those she had striven to help. Many
of the men who held important jobs in politics and elsewhere owe her their
success as seen above. She had done so much for them, providing them with the
money they needed to pay for their rent and their food. When the money she had
collected for them was not enough, she used her own money. There was also a lot
of resignation to her lot, which she believed, was all that God had set out for
her (Hatem el Karoui, 2013). At independence, Bourguiba founded the National
Union of Tunisian Women (UNFT), regretfully, never acknowledging the work done
by BBM not even inviting her for the celebrations of 13 August, Tunisian
Women’s National Day. No mention was made of her name. “… her entire combat was
erased from the Tunisian people’s collective memory by Bourguiba, as if she had
never existed!” BBW had no choice but to step away. Here is the explanation she
gave Ilhem Marzouki in a private interview: After having been
President of this organization during twenty years, it was too humiliating for
me to feel myself degraded in occupying any kind of position in the new Union,
for I have been raised in the sense of dignity and self-respect. (Marzouki, 77) Why was she so
humiliated when we know that Bourguiba used to go and visit her? He would write
to her from France, his first wife Mathilde used to visit her as did his second
wife, Wassila Ben Ammar later on. He knew about all
that she had done to help and support the Destour and
young Tunisian students studying in France. He even called her “Um Tunes” (the mother of Tunisia) as Dr.
Sonia Ben Mrad reports. Even Selma Baccar’s film, “Fatma 75” realized in 1976 about the
development of women’s status in Tunisia was censored without any explanation.
A fiction documentary, the film introduced three generations of women: 1)
1930-1938, with the foundation of the first women’s organization; 2) 1938-1952,
with the links between women’s struggle for recognition and the struggle for
independence; 3) 1956-on, the CPS, the Tunisian family code and the changes it
brought into women’s lives. The film was simply censored. It is difficult to
comprehend how, strong feminist as he indeed was, Bourguiba could censor a film
about women’s empowerment. Selma Baccar had her own
explanation as she said that it was his egocentrism that had made Bourguiba
refuse to accept the presentations of BBM and Tahar
Haddad as initiators of the feminist movement. Bourguiba became thus: … the one vested
with the decisive authority in terms of State affairs and society. He will be
the one responsible for making and breaking all the people of authority around
him. But he is also the one who will be responsible for ensuring a vigilant and
relentless control with the objective of checking the subordination of all the
organisms of the State to his policy and to annihilate the appearance of any
pressure dissident group. (Marzouki, 153) That was probably
one of Bourguiba’s greatest weaknesses: he had to be the initiator of every
positive achievement made in the country. It was only on 1 December 2013 that
extracts of the film were presented on the celebration of BBM’s one-hundredth
birthday at the National Theater in Tunis. BBM had been a strong actor for
independence and women’s empowerment, reaching out to women all over the
country. But, the official message attributed the
title of “initiator of the feminist movement” to Bourguiba as we can see below: The distinct honor
to have been at the origin of “Tunisian women’s liberation” was to the credit
of President Bourguiba. This personal glory was implemented by the promulgation
of the Code of Personal Status hardly a few months following independence. (Marzouki
158) This point is made
clearer in Bourguiba’s 1976 speech: The emancipating
laws promulgated in their favor have spared Tunisian Women the pain of wearing
themselves out in advocacy struggles which women in most countries have had to
undertake, enabling them to get on right away with at the apprenticeship of
freedom and responsibility[20]. (cited
by Marzouki, 158) Because this
initiative had been “a reform from above,” and not from a movement initiated by
women, it became currently known as “state feminism.” BBM had provided
significant support in two of Bourguiba’s goals: independence from France and
women’s emancipation. Called the “Mujahid
el Akbar” (the Greatest Mujahid), Bourguiba did not want anyone to share
those achievements with him. However, if BBM used to lead a comfortable life at
her father’s and also at her husband’s, regretfully, she ended poor, living in
a poor neighborhood, and forgotten. In a way, like Tahar
Haddad. She lived in an old, rundown palace known as “Dar el Bey” (the Bey’s House)
located at the foot of the Boukornine mountain in
Hammam-Lif. She, her adopted son and his parents
shared a floor. On 1 December 2013,
her name resurfaced when Tunisia celebrated her 100th birthday. It
is often stated that Bourguiba offered Tunisian women rights on a silver tray.
There is no doubt whatsoever that he was instrumental in legalizing women’s
rights. However, even though many of the discriminations inflicted on Tunisian
women were at last eradicated with the promulgation of the CPS, as we have seen
in the first part of this article, women had not been strangers to it. “It is true that
Bourguiba was for women’s emancipation, but the rights that were granted to
women in 1956 never were a gift offered on a silver tray. It is women’s
precious participation to the struggle for national liberation that provided
for the acquisition of these rights,” BBM was to declare. “The woman question had never been among the
main issues of the Neo-Destour before 1956…”
(Marzouki, 164) and it remained unclear during the period preceding
independence (1954-1956). At the same time, women branches
of that same and unique party were founded in such towns as Tunis, Bizerte and
Beja between 1951 and 1952. It was when the big issue about whether women were
to be allowed to take part in the legislative elections that the woman question
came back. All of the women involved in organizations agreed on the fact that
“if illiterate men can vote, Illiterate women must have the right to vote too”
and, “if they are voters, women must also be eligible, exactly like men,
according to their capacities” for, Md. Dr. Tawhida
Ben Cheikh declared, elections are not a science business but one of awareness.[21] BBM was
pleased with women’s achievements: Tunisian women have
made progress and raised their level of reflection; they are now able to manage
their environment, express their preferences, bewail, enjoy and disapprove and
they understand the situation of the country from every angle. They take part
in the charity, social and scientific associations’ activities. I am pleased
with all of this and I sometimes hear disturbing things like marriage proposals
and things like that. (Hammar) B. B. Mrad never failed to express her point of view about
important issues. At the same meeting as the one above when Tawhida
Ben Cheikh said what she thought important about elections, she dared demand
from the government that women take part in the coming elections just like men.
In 1957, Tunisia became the first country in the Arab world to grant women the
right to vote. Several scholars think a collective effort must be done,
especially for People to enjoy doing just that: giving Bchira
Ben Mrad the homage that she is entitled to. BBM died
on 4 May in 1993. SOURCES OF FUNDINGThis research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors. CONFLICT OF INTERESTThe author have declared that no competing interests exist. ACKNOWLEDGMENTNone. REFERENCES
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[33] Vincent, Rose. 3 july
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[34] Zouari, Fawzia.
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fois une reine… » Jeune Afrique l’Intelligent. N° 2177: 56-58. Bchira Ben Mrad,
President of the Muslim Union of Tunisian Women Source: Authorized by Moncef
Ben Mrad, Bchira Ben Mrad’s brother, from his private collection [1] (French text) Et si
la Tunisie était « féministe » depuis toujours ? Cette thèse
permet notamment d’expliquer que le Code du statut personnel, adopté en 1956 à
l’initiative de Habib Bourguiba, soit entré dans les mœurs avec autant de
facilité. [2] “Femmes de Tunisie,” pp. 84 and
92. Cited in Secrétariat d’Etat à l’Information, p.
8. [3] The CPS abolished repudiation, divorce, polygamy. It
also set up a minimum age for marriage and made for the consent of both the
bride and groom for marriage to take place. [4]In 1966, Tunisia launched a successful family planning
program. [5] Bchira was 9 when she
joined that school together with her sisters and cousins. She had to leave one
year later as ordered by her uncle, Neji Ben Mrad, who did not approve of girls’ education. [6] In an article written on 13 August 2015, Moez Karoui, nephew of Bchira Ben
Mrad used the same title « Al Hidad âla imraât Al Haddad” to justify the real reason that led
Sheikh Mohamed Salah Ben Mrad to stand against Tahar Haddad, reminding of the political situation under
the French protectorate. Indeed, the French authorities missed no opportunity
to humiliate the indigenous population. They organized a big event around the
theme of “the Resurrection of Christian Africa” for they wanted Tunisia to
become a land of Christianity. A procession of young Catholic crusaders wearing
the uniform paraded in the streets of Tunis…Haddad had a good friend among the
Christians, Father Sellam, and Sheikh Ben Mrad believed that he was the one who had written the book
and not Haddad. Adopting Haddad’s reformist views then was not seen as
appropriate. Bourguiba was to do the same when he encouraged women to remain
veiled to stand out against the Western way of life. It was after independence
that he urged women to do the exact opposite: to get rid of the veil. [7]
Cited by Marzouki by an anonymous writer: Bchira B. Mrad,
la femme que les terroristes français voulaient tuer, Réalités, 17/8/84, n° 42.
[8] Ibid. [9] Marzouki, 80. [10] Chammam, 56-60. [11] Cited. Bchira Ben Mrad. 1937. Instruisez la femme si vous désirez la
dignité et la vie (in Arabic), in Shams
el Islam, 1356 H, n°5-6. [12] Cited by Marzouki. BBM: Women’s life is at home and
they must have a religious and national education (in Arabic), Shams el Islam,
1356 H, n°3. (1937) [13]
Feminine renaissance féminine in Tunis. (in Arabic), in El
Mostamaa el Arabi, March 1952, n° 12. [14] L’Union des femmes de Tunisie (UFT)
was founded in 1944, as the Germans were leaving Tunisia, before even the end
of World War II. Most of the members of that organization were communists.
Among their many activities, they joined the Committee for Peace. The main goal
of these women activists was to make women aware that they were a power that
could take its destiny in its own hands (Borsali,
18). [15] Wikipedia. Habib Bourguiba, in
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habib_Bourguiba [16] Tawhida Ben Cheikh was to
be for a long time the only female doctor in the country. Today, 60% of the
Tunisian medical doctors are women. See Bchira Ben Mrad’s speech honoring Dr. Tawhida
Ben Cheikh translated by Khedija Arfaoui
in Women Writing Africa: The Northern Region: p. 154-156. [17] Just for comparison, ATFD and AFTURD, the two
autonomous feminist organizations founded in 1989 were never able to create
branches in the other cities under Ben Ali. [18] Bchira Ben Mrad also had contacts with Farhat Hached
who gave her his full support in her endeavors and activities. Farhat Hached was a Trade Union leader (UGTT). He was assassinated
by “La Main Rouge” on 5 December 1952. [19]http://www.africaciel.com/afrique/portail/index/Mouvement_national_tunisien.html#R.C3.B4le_des_mouvements_f.C3.A9minins [20] Habib Bourguiba, at the 6th Congress of UNFT,
Monastir on 13-15 August 1976. [21]
T. Ben Cheikh : 26-12-1955. La Tunisienne doit-elle voter ? L’Action.
Cited by Marzouki :
165.
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