Professional Organizations which stipulate that « the principle of equality is not
less important than the principle of freedom, that is the equality between the
citizens, between men and women, with no discrimination in terms of religion,
colour, political opinion or affiliation ». Similarly, organic law n° 88-32 of 3rd May
1988 organizing the Political Parties as well as Constitutional law n° 97-65 of 27th
October 1997 amending and completing certain Articles of the Constitution,
stipulates that the Political Party « should in its activity respect and defend the
principles organizing Personal Status » and « reject racism and all other forms of
discrimination ».
436. The amendments introduced in the CSP, by virtue of the law n° 93-74 of 12th
July 1993, amending certain Articles of the CSP, strengthened the status of
women as fully fledged human beings enjoying all their rights. The philosophy
under-lying this amendment considers that the cause of women is part of the
cause of integral development, that their rights cannot be separated from human
rights and that the development of their acquisitions are not an end in itself but
are part of the general framework of effort to protect the family, to guarantee the
psychological and social balance of the individual and of society.
437. Article 23 of the CSP, amended by the law n° 93-74 of 12th July
1993, stipulates that « each of the two spouses should deal kindly with his
partner, live with him in good relations and avoid causing him harm. The married
couple should fulfill their conjugal responsibilities in accordance with established
habits and customs. They cooperate for the running of the affairs of the family,
the good education of the children, as well as the management of the affairs of
the latter including their schooling, travel and financial transactions. The husband,
as head of the family, should provide for the needs of the spouse and of the
children to the best of his ability and according to their situation in the context of
the components of the support allowance. The woman should contribute to the
costs of taking care of the family if she has the means ». This development of the
relationships between men and women undoubtedly has consequences on the
type of intra-family relations and on the male and female roles within the couple.
438. The suppression of the obligation « of submission » of the wife to her
husband confirms the attachment of Tunisia to a better family equilibrium, to the
elevation of the woman’s status within the family, and to the suppression of all
that which can injure her esteem or violate her dignity. The CSP made it possible
to move beyond the relationship of dominating man/dominated woman and to
establish the legislative and cultural basis of gender equality. The changes in the
fields of behaviour and the law benefited the women and widened the horizon of
gender equality so sought after by the women, but also by more and more men,
as a liberating value of the two human conditions constrained to live together in
interdependence and complementarity.
439. Within the framework of the reinforcement of the role and place of women in
society and of the ethic and political concern to protect them from all forms of
discrimination, the Tunisian legislator took it upon himself to enhance the
promotion of gender equality legally and to remove from the legislation all the
remnants of discrimination against women. Law n° 2000–17 of 7th February
2000, repealing certain provisions of the Obligations and Contracts Code (COC),
eliminated Article 831 of this Code which enunciated that « the married woman
can only offer her services as a childminder or other with the authorization of her
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