Deanna Marcum: Good afternoon everyone, I'm Deanna Marcum; I'm the Associate Librarian at the Library of Congress, and on behalf of the Librarian, James Billington, who is in Russia today, I extend greetings from him as well. It is a great pleasure for the Library of Congress to co-sponsor this important event with the Embassy of Tunisia, and I extend a special welcome to the Tunisian Ambassador, Ambassador Hachana; we're very happy to have you here. If you have not visited the Library of Congress before, I am always surprised at the number of people who come to these events and say, "Oh this is my first time in the building." We think it's the most beautiful building in Washington, and possibly the most beautiful building in America, so we urge you to spend a little time here and take note of the Great Hall and the architecture. This building for me is so inspirational because it was built at the time America was filled with promise. It opened in 1897, and when you go into the Great Hall and walk through the corridors, you will see examples everywhere you look of what Americans thought we could and should aspire to. Most of it has to do with the acquisition of knowledge, life long learning, paying attention to the humanities and the sciences. So I just -- I think it's instructive to spend a little time in this building and reflect on -- on what we are able to do. The core of the Library's collections, if -- if you know anything about our history, you may already know that our core collections are Thomas Jefferson's personal library. After the British burned the Capitol in the War of 1812 and we lost the first Library of Congress, Thomas Jefferson offered to sell his collection to Congress. And there was quite a long debate about buying Jefferson's collection, because there were so many international materials in the collection, and some members of Congress asked, "Is it really appropriate to acquire this collection that isn't American?" And Thomas Jefferson had a wonderful line that we use every time we appear before Appropriations Committees. Mr. Jefferson said he could think of no subject about which members of Congress should not have occasion to refer, and it was that philosophy that helped us build the kinds of collections we have today. Our mission at the Library of Congress is to collect America's creativity and the world's knowledge, and we take that very seriously. This is a collection of 132 million items, from all parts of the world, in all languages. And, we believe that this is critically important, not only for Americans, but for all people who are interested in learning and understand the past, for living productive lives in the present, and for making their own contributions to new knowledge in the future. The African and Middle Eastern Division is one of four area studies collections we have at the Library. We have six overseas acquisitions offices in parts of the world where the publishing industry is not well established. We do everything we can to collect from every part of the world, and we are especially proud of the kinds of ephemeral material we've been able to acquire, political pamphlets, little newspapers that are published for a short time, cartoons, films, music. You name it, we try to get it, so we hope you will come back when you have longer and um, get to know our collections. Our librarians are always delighted to help you find what you're looking for, to show you the division or the Library itself, and we would be very pleased to have you here. I am -- we have an unhappy visitor. I am now very pleased to invite the Ambassador to make a few remarks, and we will begin the program. Again, thank you for coming; we are delighted you are here. Ambassador [ applause ] Ambassador Mohamed Hachana: Ladies, gentlemen, and dear friends, it's a great pleasure for me, and I am so thrilled to be with you in this prestigious Library of Congress this afternoon. I would like to pay tribute to the Library of Congress for its support and assistance. I also would like to express my deep thanks to our dear friend, Mrs. Mary-Jane Deeb, for its continued support. Having said that, I would like to say a few words, and I will be very brief. This symposium seeks to highlight the civilized dimensions of the Code of Personal Status, promulgated on August 13, 1956. This code constitutes the decisive turning point for Tunisian women in the way of acquisition of their rights, and established a new family order based on more balance and equality, which mainly appeared in the abolition of polygamy, the regulation of divorce, and possibility to determine the age of marriage for men and women. This was reinforced in 1992 under the rule of President Ben Ali through the development of the provisions of this code in line with a comprehensive reformist vision, and the coherent modernist approach of Tunisia and its civilized choice that pulled up women in order to become equal partners of men in the private life as well as the public one. This seminar is a good opportunity to benefit from the expertise and knowledge of three important Tunisian ladies, Dr. Alifa Farouk, the Ombudsman of Tunisia, Mrs. Hayet Laouni, our senator and an owner and CEO of a private shipping company, and the famous Dr. Charrad, Mounira, Professor of Sociology, Texas University. In the United States we have what we call the 3M Company. The Tunisian social model is similar to an equilateral triangle, where its basis represents the middle class, M1, and its two other sides reflects moderation, M2, and modernity, M3. This is our M3 model in Tunisia, as you have here the 3M Company in the United States. Thank you for your attention, and it is my pleasure to be here. [ applause ] Mary-Jane Deeb: I would like to invite now the speakers to the table, and I, too, will be brief. I'm Mary-Jane Deeb, Chief of the African and Middle East Division, One of the 78 countries that the division represents is Tunisia. One of our speakers today, Dr. Alifa Chaabane Farouk, is actually -- represents not only her own country, but she represents the whole sub-continent of Africa, and the Franco Funis [ spelled phonetically ] . It is an honor and a privilege today to welcome three women who really are models for what they have achieved and what they are in the process of doing. Mrs. Alifa Chaabane Farouk is a member of the Executive Board of the Democratic Constitutional Rally, [ unintelligible ] , dominant party in Tunisia. She is the Ombudsman of Tunisia and has been elected the Ombudsman of Africa, and is the Ombudsman of the Franco Funis today. She's married, she has three children. And she has a doctorate in Political Science and International Public Law from the Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich. She has Master's in Arts in International Public Law, and wrote a thesis on [ unintelligible ] Germany on the status of the Western Sahara. She has worked on a large number of projects and has been member of the Cabinet of the Minister of International Corporation and Foreign Investment. She's been an advisor to President Ben Ali, the president of Tunisia, and she has worked very actively in the ruling party, in charge of women's affairs. Her CV is very long, and as we want to hear from her, I will stop here and introduce the next speaker. Dr. Hayet Laouni, who's a member of the Senate of Tunisia and who is a CEO of major business companies. She's actually -- she founded businesses in shipping. I mean, that is not an easy -- an easy field to get into, and worked with Denmark. She has studied in Tunisia and France and Denmark, and as the other women on the panel, is fluent in several languages. She's a member of the Tunisian Union of the Industry and President of the Chamber of Shipping Agents. The third speaker is Professor Mounira Charrad, who's Professor of Sociology and Middle Eastern Studies in Texas. Mounira Charrad is the award-winning author of a number of -- States and Women's Rights: The Making of Postcolonial Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco, that was published at the University of California Press, 2001. Her book won the Distinguished Book Award in Political Sociology in 2002. She has co-edited two volumes on -- in French, Femmes: Culture et Societe au Maghreb, and published several more studies on the Maghreb. She has consulted for the World Bank, various international organizations, and is with us today to share her insights on the history of the Personal Status laws and women's rights. So, very briefly, I would like to welcome them again and pass the microphone on to Dr. Alifa Chaabane Farouk, who will speak about Tunisian women from legal equality to active partnership in the development of modern Tunisia. Dr. Farouk. [ applause ] Dr. Alifa Chaabane Farouk: [ Unintelligible ] . Ladies and gentlemen, excellencies, dear friend, and Jane Deeb, it's with great pleasure that I extend my very special and warm thanks to my friend, Mrs. Mary-Jane Deeb to have host this important symposium at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC, in the USA, and to having invited us to speak about the achievements and gains of Tunisian women while celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Women Emancipation Codex, issued on -- as you know, on 13 of August, 1956, and amended on several times and occasions since change in 1987, with a view to modernize its content and adapting it to the evolution of the society and of the epoch. Ladies and gentlemen, we are today focusing a world with crisis, and the world is currently witnessing also economic, social, and technical changes that have given rise to the phenomenon of globalization, which in turn has reduced borders, contributing to developing modes of lives, of living and communication, and opening up new prospects for men and women to cooperate together. Such meeting, ladies and gentlemen, contributes undoubtedly to strengthening relations and mutual respect and consideration between us and our cultures, and to developing the over-than-two-century-lasting relations between the Republic of Tunisia and the United States of America. Coming from another continent, ladies and gentleman, far from America, from -- from Africa, from a small country, geographically, but rich culturally, having a three-million millennium history, and I am very glad to see that our celebrating day is in this history-full building. South Tunisia count three millennium history where the women had always played a key role. As a matter of fact, ancient Carthage, the Greek city-state, was founded by a woman, the Queen Dido, in 1814 Before Christos, BC. From the 12th century BC to nowadays, women, as I said, have played a key role in all mattes of life. During all civilizations, our country had known, as you know, a lot of civilization, 13 I think, starting with Phoenician, it lasted 200 years and then going through to Romans, the civilization of Rome lasted in the Tunisian and Carthage seven hundred years. Replaced in the fifth and sixth century by the Vandals, you know, the Goths and the Vandals from the north, and later, by the Byzantines. In the seventh century after AD, Islamic conquest reached Tunisia. The Berber Queen, Kahina, hated strongly the new arrivals til her death. In the ensuing centuries, Islamic civilization enriched Tunisia during five dynasties, both Arabs and Ottoman. And again women has left their landmarks in the country, like [ unintelligible ] building hospitals and also welfare, other welfare institutions. Andalusian Muslim immigrants from Spain settled in the country during this period. By the 16th century, Tunisia was under Ottoman control and a dynasty of beys governed country. Sida Monria [ spelled phonetically ] , an intellectual woman, helped poor and homeless young women to get shelter and also to get married. In the 19th century, Tunisia was the first Arab country to promulgate an -- a constitution. Granting equality between all citizens, all foreigner also can enjoy in that -- in the country the same rights as the inhabitants, original inhabitants, so it was the first Arab country to promulgate a constitution, guarantee equality. And Tunisia has also in that time banned slavery. But, economic abuses by the beys, influenced by their harem of women and the foreign influences also, interferences, were the source of increased instability. In 1881, France declared Tunisia as a protectorate, generating a strong anti-colonial reaction in the country. And, again, ladies and gentlemen, women had played a key role in the fighting against the colonialists, and becoming a part of the driving force behind Tunisian independence on March 20, 1956, and we are celebrating this year the 50th anniversary also of our independence. Ladies and gentlemen, Tunisian women, as I said, have always been at the heart of the struggle for both the liberation and the building of the long [ unintelligible ] process of the country and the birth of the modern state. Again, with the advent of the era of change and its attendant consolidation of the rule of law, democratization, and promotion of human rights, the principle of equality of men and women with respect to citizenship and before the law is expressed -- expressly stipulated in the Tunisian Constitution of June 1st, 1959, and also in those. The constitution in Article 6 stipulated that all citizens have the same rights and the same duties; they are equal before law. Article 20 stated -- and Article 21 also guaranteed women right to vote and to run also public offices. The project of society, launched by His Excellency President Ben Ali, has further reinforced and promoted these legal gains for women as part of a global approach that takes into consideration the stakes of progress and modernization as well as the socioeconomic and cultural changes [ unintelligible ] in the world at the dawn of the third millennium. Ladies and gentlemen, the Woman Codex, or the Personal Statute Codex, or the Woman Emancipation Codex issued on August 13, 1956, undoubtedly constitutes the major legal gain, not only for Tunisian women, but for society at large. "The Woman Codex," said President Ben Ali on a speech on 19th March 1988, "is a gain to which we attach great importance and which we will continue to uphold. We are truly proud," says Ben Ali, "of this Codex, and there will be no going back on Tunisia's progress in the field of the family and woman's rights." Indeed, the Woman Codex had liberated woman in Tunisia, had preserved social cohesion and stability, and contributed to edify the foundations of Tunisian modern society, thanks to the revolutionary spirit that stems from its various amendments. The Tunisian legislature has always ensured that the laws enacted be in keeping with the evolution of society by rejecting those that are deemed anachronistic, and by issuing new [ unintelligible ] that are more compatible with social changes. Ladies and gentlemen, Tunisia's accession to independence on March 20, 1956, as I said, marked a turning point in liberating women from the fetters in which they had been -- they had long been changed, and confirming their ambition to attain dignity and equality. Indeed, before the implementation of this codex in 1956, women in Tunisia, in -- on the turning point of the century, the 20th century, were asset to be only house -- housewives and to bring up their children and having no public life and having no mixed life, and they celebrate anniversary or marriage without the man present, and little, not very much -- women can afford to be educated, or when -- then with an old and a blind educator. President Bourguiba, the first President of Tunisia, has enacted the Women's Rights Codex few months after independence because the Tunisian woman -- women has struggled and fighted and even if they are not so free, they could bring the -- the weapons under their clothes to the fighters, and so they contributed also to the independence and they sell their jewelries to buy arms and weapons and also they were shot down and dead when they make this -- when they make also demonstration. And it was to grant them, that few months only after independence of Tunisia that President Bourguiba had enhanced the Personal Codex law. It was the first law in the independent Tunisia, even before the constitution, which was second, on the first of June, 1959. The Family Codex or the Woman Codex, the Women's Rights Codex, it was unique in the Arab and Islamic world, abolishing polygamy, as you know. In an Arab/Muslim country, to abolish polygamy -- until now there is no Arabic and Islamic country having abolished polygamy. The Woman Codex has also forced marriage under parental authority abolished, abolished also forced marriage under parental authority, confirming the principal of mutual consent of the spouses prior to marriage, and submitting divorce to judicial procedure. This open equal horizons for men and for women in all aspects of their daily life, both within the family and also the broader social front. Indeed, it was the first law issued, as I said, in Tunisia. Since 1956, in independent Tunisia -- since 1956 a [ unintelligible ] multi dimensional approach developed, as I told, and deeply reinforced since the challenge in 1987 by President Ben Ali to promote women accomplishments and to strive with consistency and determination to eliminate the risks of exclusion and marginalization to which women may be exposed, and to struggle against generation -- and they struggle against generation. To reform -- the reform to the Woman Codex introduced since November 7, 1987, was to be strongly confirmed through the determination and personal conviction of his Excellency President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, just as reactionary current were appearing that wanted the gains of women to be questioned. Since then, Women's Right have been sustained in every field. The condition has improved in all areas of activity on the basis of equality with men to reaching real and effective partnership between men and women and integrating effectively, women in the develop -- in the development as equal partners. The constitution, amended in 2002, grants the right for eligibility for the Chamber of Deputies to any voter of Tunisian father or mother, without distinction. Before that, it was only the voter from Tunisian father who can be elected to the Tunisian Chamber of Deputies. This condition applies also to candidates to the Chamber of Advisors, Senates, since 2004. Article 8 of the constitution provides that political parties must respect the sovereignty of the people, the values of the republic, human rights, and the principals pertaining to personal of Woman Rights Codex. Further, amendments to the Codex of Woman's Rights, the obligation is led upon both spouses of treating each other -- treating each other with mutual respect and assisting each other in managing the household and the children's affairs, replacing a clause, which prescribed since 1956, that a woman must obey her husband and respect his prerogative also. It was abolished, and now [ unintelligible ] with respect were enhanced. Consent of the mother to the marriage of her child when the latter is minor, participation of the mother in the management of her children's affair, granting a married woman who is a minor the right to manage her own private life, and now the age of marriage was up, up -- now it's up 18, 18 years for men and women equally. But before that, before this year it was only 17 for the woman and -- for the female, and 20 for the man. Generalization of the premarital certificate requirement in all regions. Each [ unintelligible ] concerning the granting of the [ unintelligible ] name to abandoned children or those of unknown parents. And it is very important in an Arab and Islamic country to have this provision. Amendments to the code of nationality provision that Tunisian women -- woman married to a non-Tunisian may never transmit her nationality to her children provides the father consents. Strengthening of the penalties for marital violence and consider it the bonds of matrimony as constituting and aggravating [ unintelligible ] . Nondiscrimination between men and women in all fields of labor. Measure of April 5th, 1996, granting of child support automatically to divorced women who have been granted custody of their children. Allowing both spouses the possibility of contracting or passing along for the purchase of the family dwelling. Indeed, 80 percent of the population of Tunisia own their proper houses. Measure of August 11, 1997. Enacting the law concerning the system of community, property, in order to serve the family's [ unintelligible ] and strengthen the bonds among its members. In 1998, appointment of a woman as ombudsman and a woman as first president of the accountability court. Since 1992, women took part to the government and now we have seven ministers, women. 2002, appointment of a woman as governor. Since 19 -- also, '92, a woman was appointed advisor of the President and 12 women had also an appointment as -- have been appointed as advisor of ministers. In August 2004, appointment of a women judge to hold a position of public prosecutor. And, you know, in some Arabic and Islamic country the woman cannot be judge, so now we can't in Tunisia. 32 percent of the judges are female. And another woman was also appointed in 2004, a woman judge, as the first President of the Appeal Court. In October 2004, other measures. In his electoral program, President Ben Ali has included a special system for mother, allowing -- allowing them if they wish to work half time for two-thirds of the salary, while retaining their rights in term of retirement and social security cover. This measure will be effectively entered in duty on January 1st, 2007. The law is already issued, but will be applied in 19 -- in 2007. In August 12, 2006, measures also were taken by President Ben Ali. He gave instructions in his speech marking the fifth anniversary of the Woman Rights Codex for preparing a bill insuring the necessary protection for the right to housing decided by the court for mothers and for children under their custody in case of tension in marriage, in marital relations or in case also of divorce. President Ben Ali announced further his decision to submit to the legislature a bill unifying, as I told, the minimum marriage age, making it 18 for both sexes, the aim being to further reinforce gender equality and to adopt legislation to the evolution of Tunisian society. And you know that Tunisia as ratified already the convention of elimination of all forms of discrimination against women since 1986, but [ unintelligible ] it in his -- in its law in legislation only in 1991, '91, when President Ben Ali ordered to publish the text of the convention, especially in our official gazette. In the President's program for [ unintelligible ] 2004 and 2009, it stated that a larger presence for women in decision-making and responsibility position must be not less than 30 percent. Now we are counting in our Chamber of Deputies 22.7 percent; in our Chamber of Senate, 15 percent; in the Economic and Social Council, we have 23 percent of women. We have also a lot of indicators and they can -- if you don't [ unintelligible ] very quickly applied these indicators, [ unintelligible ] of Tunisian six-year-old girls are enrolled in schools. The proportion of girls in secondary schools is 53 percent. In higher education, female students make up 59 percent of the total number of students, and not only in literature matters but also in technological and sciences and also in -- in sciences and physician matters. Life expectancy among Tunisian people, 37.3 but for men and 57 -- 55 -- 75.3 amount women. Delivers performed with medical assistance, 90 percent. Women make up nearly one quarter of Tunisian working population, more than 10,000 women are heads of business. The proportion of female representation is legislative and I told everybody's make is 22.7 in the Chamber of Deputies, 15 percent in the Chamber of Advisor. Over 27 percent in municipal councils, women were elected in the last legislation, up to 27 percent. 23 percent, I told [ unintelligible ] , 13.3 percent in the higher council of the judiciary. 20 percent among ministry department staff. 26.4 in the center committee of our ruling party. From 300 member of the central committee we, we are more than 64 women. And of course, on the executive board it's only one woman within ten decision makers. 27 percent make the women of the judge and 32 percent of judges, 31 of lawyers, 42 of medical profession and 72 percent of pharmacists, 54 percent among journalists, 40 percent of the university professor, 21 percent of the staff of the public service, 51 percent in basic education instructors, 48 percent of secondary teachers, 26.4 percent in manufacturing industry, 16.7 percent in agriculture and fishing, 46.9 percent in the sector of commerce and service. I thought that President Ben Ali in his program for 2004, 2009 made also after having the decision to reach the position -- the responsibility position of women to enhance them to more than 30 percent. He makes also it easier for women [ unintelligible ] their family life with professional commitments. He also grant greater protection for family ties. [ Unintelligible ] in woman sports, devoting each year ten percent of the resources of the sports development fund for the promotion of women's sports, promoting family leisure activities, increasing from eight to 15 percent, the amount of grants to be invested in leisure-type projects within the framework of regional development. The right to education granted since 1958 to woman was reinforced by the law on education in 2002, establishing the mandatory nature of school attendance for children of both sexes aged between six and 16 and provides for a penalty for recalcitrant parents. The state guarantees to all children equal chances, as you know, to enjoy free education, compulsory in all public education and educational institutions. Ladies and gentlemen, I am closing. Tunisia women today are proud to be [ unintelligible ] with all the components of human dignity in an environment of dedication, to earn respect, too, and respect of human rights within a global strategy based on far reaching reforms. However, the laws that affected women's life in particular, in society in general remain those related to women [ unintelligible ] . It is important, ladies and gentlemen, today, to reaffirm diversity and enrich this approach. We are convinced that reinforcing the status of women in society and facilitating the integration within the process of [ unintelligible ] could be achieved by considering women's rights as an integral part of human rights and citizen rights. I'm dealing with citizen rights as ombudsman. The changing of mindsets and the promoting of attitudes and changing of behaviors and establishing a true partnership between men and women in all fields of work, production, and activity can win the challenges we face as women in an Arab Islamic country. As Tunisian women, we call for increased corporation with you, dear friends, you as women and also you as men, for more exchange of experiences between us, for more comprehension from our American friends towards a way to enhance democracy and better support to face challenges and to struggle against the danger of [ unintelligible ] from the [ unintelligible ] and terrorism we face together. We are convinced that the present and future are built with the hands of men and women, but if the gains and achievements of the heart of the woman, of the heart of the society of the woman, [ unintelligible ] by the opportunity and [ unintelligible ] trends that seek to undermine the gains and to bring back women to bygone times, the present and the future of all citizens will be dark and hopeless. That's why, dear friends, I call on you of -- to strengthen Tunisia -- to strengthen your cooperation with Tunisia with the values women's groups, organizations or with NGOs having mutual interest, to help us by investing also in our safe and peaceful country in our -- in our economy. We hope to share with us -- we hope you to share with us our vision toward the major international issues, to [ unintelligible ] with other women in other Arabic and Islamic countries, to promote the values of dialogue, modernization, moderation, and tolerance among the cultures, civilizations, and religions, and consolidate the foundation of justice and mutual understanding. We know that the woman is [ unintelligible ] against antagonism. And I thank you for your attention. [ applause ] Deanna Marcum: Thank you very much. I'm interrupting the program just long enough to welcome Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, who has joined us. [ applause ] She'll be making brief remarks at the end of the program. We'll now continue with our speakers, thank you. Dr. Hayet Laouni: Thank you very much. I personally thank Dr. Mary-Jane Deeb for giving me the opportunity to be with you. Ms. Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, thanks for the -- to give me the opportunity to be with you. So I'll try to -- I'm in business. I'm not in -- in the politics, same to my friend, but it's same now actually. So I will try to make it clear for you. I just try to talk a little bit through my experience for the role of the women in Tunisia in business. So I started to say grateful to -- forever to my country. And I mean it. I'm not paid to say it, I mean it, really. And I just try to tell you that I born and grew and work in a part of the world where life is supposed to be hard for everybody, and even harder for women. I belong to two parts of the world, in fact, African and Arab Muslim. So I thank you for giving me the opportunity to talk to you about economic role of women in Tunisia 50 years after the promulgation of the Code of Women Status. Through my biography you have surely noticed that my main activities are in the shipping, maritime and [ unintelligible ] worldwide, known to be exclusively man's field. The question I have, and I had often to answer to, mainly when I was younger, when I participate into international meetings for maritime or meet foreign visitors in my country, are you Tunisian? Are you Arab? They mean, are you Muslim? My positive answer calls another question. So it's your father business or husband or brother business? No, it isn't. It is, I am simply Tunisian woman born on 1956. I was five years when Tunisia promulgated the Code of Women Status, making of the education compulsory and free of charge, in a just and [ unintelligible ] , 3.5 million population with 98 percent illiterate. Even if my father was educated and interested in giving us the possibility to study, he could never have been able to pay and to cover financially the education cost for six girls. We were six girls at that time. If the government didn't pay 50 percent of the boarding high school expense, the condition was the class notes had to be minimum 12 on 20. It was hard, but we succeeded. I wanted to start with what seems to be a detail, only to tell you how 50 years ago the education of girls and boys into mixed primary high schools and college was essential for the development of Tunisia. In the middle of the '60s, two major events happened in Tunisia. First for women, the medical control of birth, the full independence and control of the woman on her body with a national program of education was built around the country. The second one, less pleasant, is the decision under an agricultural reform program to move the country under a socialism regime. The land was confiscated, the people were thrown out from their properties, the government shops were delivering under ticket food staff wheat, flour, sugar, et cetera, and sometimes juice. I was 18 when the late President Bourguiba, maker of the Woman Code of Status, declared that the imposed socialism was over and return the properties to their owners. The country start building the economic institution to develop bilateral economy, liberal economy such as API, that is, Agency of Promotion of Industry, Agency of Promotion of Agriculture, and also they built banks and mainly banks for housing and banks to support the development. The tourism and textile style sector took the head of the opening of the country by obtaining full banking system support, full tax exemption. The beginning of the 17th, which we call low 72. Also, for foreigners investing in the country, mainly in textile for export. In -- in all the other fields, the state-owned companies were very strong and the private sector was exceptionally tolerated. Condition to not enter into competition with those politically supported companies, which are owned by the government, of course, in part industry services. In all that, and secure and unclear environment, I obtained my first license on 1977 in shipping and [ unintelligible ] . I was 26, a little bit crazy. I mean, you know, it goes together. It seemed that for transport [ unintelligible ] you have not to be crazy, but it helps. [ laughter ] So -- and when the law allowed the Tunisian to enter these activities, because up to 1977 if we see the database of the companies shipping or [ unintelligible ] , they were not owned by Tunisian, it was the rest of the colonization. So we were few ones entering the field in the middle of the '70. So they say honestly it was easy; no, it was not. For two reason, the law was very exclusive, and second, I was a woman. To be a pioneer is a privilege, but a big risk. Up to 1987 I was fighting to survive. In spite of the [ unintelligible ] I was realizing that then comes the change on the head of the country after an economic and political recession from 1980 til '87. I felt again that I am a citizen with full rights, duties, and responsibilities and start the expansion again another -- you know. It's -- seven is a good -- is good sign for me. I mean, '77 I built up my company. '87 we have the change. Maybe also it's a crazy number for me so I expand again, expand my activities in other ports. I move from the north of the country to -- to the capital to contribute, so I expand my companies and I feel that I had to compute the economy of my country. And I considered that the employers organization, called [ unintelligible ] , and it's a union but it's not a union to fight but it's a union to build for industrial commerce and handicraft and services. Had an import of [ unintelligible ] to support Ben Ali's economic and social reform based on a new vision for full participation of the private sector. Ben Ali's policy was the consolidation of an economic and political institution to reconfirm and upgrade the Code of Women, Family and Childhood Status. Economic woman participation then becomes more evident by being more secure through the [ unintelligible ] institutions, such as bank of solidarity and the lending money for micro credit projects and the medium and long term reimbursement. To be honest, I mean, when I started it was useless to go to the banks to ask them to lend you money in the '70s, and mainly if you come to talk about services, it was a little bit crazy. It is way too much risky, you are a woman and it's men's field and it's services. I mean, it was big question mark. They just don't throw you away but they say, we will answer you, you just put demand somewhere in the box. So -- but when I see the generation later, the ones who comes after us, they were really lucky to have this kind of support. The development banks played a very important role to assist and support the private sector. Mid of the '90s, of course, we could and we can say that we are present in all the fields. Women are accepted in all the fields, and of course there is not any more since middle and end of the '70. '90s we don't need any more licenses; that means agreements. The fields of economy were open. So what I am doing here -- you'll -- okay. That's a story. But what I'm doing here I just come to you to say that we are interested to develop our partnership. Because we cannot -- we are a small country, wonderful country, very pleasant to live into, but we need the support, we need economical support because now we have challenges. We have young graduated people. We need more investment, foreign investment. We need more creation of jobs for the graduated, otherwise we run the risk to have our -- all the investment to have done for the last 50 years in the human capacities we have leaving the country to find a job. So that's why I'm here to ask your support, to tell you that we are friends since long, long time. I think Tunisia and the United States have built the first relation, political relations two centuries. I think Tunisia was one of the first who recognized the freedom of United States, so now we -- we are here to tell you that you want to consolidate what you have in Tunisia, the rights, because we don't have petrol, thanks God, but it helps sometime to have a little bit. So it's -- it's a heavy bill for our economy. And we have been pleased yesterday to visit the women museum and we -- we have been glad to have this really very, very good attention from the lady who is on head of the museum, so this is good to have bilateral exchange on the culture side. What -- what you want to do also is to work on exchanging young people from the high school or the university so we can -- we know much more about America than the American's know about Tunisia. Even in here I can ask you, how many population of Tunisia? You might say 20 million, ten or 15. We have just ten, because of the control of the birth, and actually, the increase of the population is 1.06, which is very low. That means -- that gives an indication of how -- how really the Tunisian are acting as a modern, a very modern country and controversly [ sic ] we are facing the problem of a developed country with a little bit of means. You know, we go to the financial market. We go, we come back with some money, we use it, we reimburse, we go again. But what we need now is more, and more contacts with America, our friend of America, and I think we deserve -- we deserve to have more privileges that what we have actually from the United States because we have been working hard. And it's hard work population, so my demand for you is to come and come; you will find a friendly country. Thank you. [ applause ] Mounira Charrad: Hello. Does this work? Great. His Excellency, dear friends of Tunisia, I wish to thank the Embassy and Mary-Jane Deeb for this -- for organizing this important event. I think we live at a time in history when we need more dialogues I'm delighted to meet Justice O'Connor. For women like myself who have worked on issues of the law in American university, she had meant a lot to us, and I'm delighted that you're here today. Today's a day of celebration. I'm pleased to be here to commemorate the promulgation of the Code of Personal Status. But this is more than a commemoration. It is also the celebration of the legacy of the Code and its continuing meaning for the women of Tunisia, the women of the Middle East and North Africa, and the women of the entire Islamic world, whom I teach in my classes, and I know what the Code of Personal Status of Tunisia means to them. I'm an academic. I grew up in Tunisia and I work in the United States. The purpose of my presentation today is to speak about the history of the code and the context of its promulgation. As you all know, taking the lead in the Arab Islamic world, the Tunisian state made liberal reforms in family law in promulgating the Code in 1956. I think we need to pause for a moment and reflect all together on what we mean by the concept of women's rights in the context of the Middle East and North Africa. I wrote a book called States and Women's Rights. I had to argue with my publisher in order to include the terms "women's rights" in the title. My publisher, one of the major publishers in America, said by "women's rights" in the United States we mean something else. We mean reproduction, we mean access to labor force, we mean things like that. To which I replied, by "women's rights" in Tunisia, in North Africa, and in the Middle East we mean something else. We mean marriage, divorce, custody, and inheritance, what I call the four big issues that women's rights advocates have been advocating for a long time. So we need to reformulate our vocabulary and re-appropriate some of those concepts. I did some interviews of women professionals in Tunisia. A Tunisian woman lawyer I interviewed said to me, "The Code of Personal Status is Tunisia's most beautiful accomplishment since independence from French rule." A women physician said to me, "The Code of Personal Status is a cutting edge body of legislation that many countries envy." I just came back from a meeting in an Arab country and I realized that as soon as some people -- as soon as people talk about Tunisia, they speak about the Code of Personal Status. "It is an excellent thing," she said. In the same vain, a Tunisian legal scholar remarked to me, "The Code of Personal Status is a more powerful symbol of Tunisia than the constitution." And I was always amazed because I remember being once at the meeting of the Middle East Studies Association and there was a panel on Tunisia and we started discussing Tunisia, and a journalist was in the audience and said, "Oh, I have the Code of Personal Status in my briefcase," and pulled it out. So the Code of Personal Status, in many respects, has become emblematic of Tunisian national identity. In making those remarks, all three women spoke the thoughts of most educated Tunisian women who take a mass pride in the Code. As you also know, the changes are far reaching, especially if we consider them in light of the preceding legislation in effect in Tunisia It was truly a shift, it was a revolution of the mind, and also, in the context of family legislation in other countries of the Islamic Middle East in the same historical period. Before the Code of Personal Status of 1956, most of you know that Islamic law of the Maliki school was in effect for the majority of the Tunisian population. Under French colonization from 1881 to 1956, Tunisians had remained under Islamic law for all family matters. The French colonial state had made a conscious policy to change the law in other domains such as commerce, in particular, also laws regulating the property of land, but had found it unnecessary to change family law, especially since such a move might have engendered violent reactions. In this respect, they learned from their experience in Algeria and in Morocco where they tried to make such moves but it cost a lot in terms of bloodshed. So as a practical matter, Maliki law in effect in Tunisia in the '40s and '50s permitted polygamy, allowed a man, therefore, to have as many as four wives, and even though the percentage of polygamist marriages was low, it has been -- it was in Tunisia, as in the rest of Islamic world, around three percent. So often people imagine that every man has a harem, but in reality, only three percent of the marriages were polygamous. Nevertheless, polygamy had a strong symbolic meaning. In discussing the family law in effect before the Code, women I interviewed in Tunisia referred to polygamy as a Sword of Damocles hanging over marriages and encouraging women towards compliance in the marriage. You also know about the changes with respect to divorce. You know that husbands had the unilateral right of repudiation, and that by contrast, women could only obtain a divorce by appealing to a religious judge, and under restricted circumstances. You probably also know that the presence of a male guardian, called actually matrimonial guardian for the bride, generally the father of the bride or a male kin representing the father, that such a presence was necessary for a marriage contract to be valid. Somehow for me that always meant so much. I never felt the risk of polygamy. It never seemed real as growing up in Tunisia that I would end up in such a polygamist marriage, but the idea of women not expressing consent directly to the marriage but having the consent represented by a matrimonial guardian seemed to deprive women of their legal autonomy. So it's very important that that was changed. You also know about the laws of inheritance. You know that the laws of inheritance define precisely who is to inherit, under which particular kinship configuration, and under which condition. And most of you probably also know that the laws of inheritance are actually contained in the text of the Koran; there are pages that give very specific regulations. So changing anything on inheritance takes on a different meaning. It's very different to change that than it is to change the law on the matrimonial guardian. The Code of Personal Status of 1956 introduced fundamental changes. As you also know, in one of the most audacious moves for the period -- remember now, we're talking 1956, the public discourse is not what it is today. The world is not the globalized universe in which we live today. This is half a century ago, dear friends. So in 1956, polygamy was abolished. And not only was it abolished, but more than that, it became punishable with imprisonment and a fine, and such fines and imprisonment actually took place. Divorce only -- could only occur in court, and husband and wife were equally entitled to file for divorce. I did a study of divorced women and asked them about their experiences, and I think the result of my interviews is that women have found that the law has made a huge difference for them in terms of access to divorce. There are certain things that remain very difficult for divorced women in Tunisia, such as social relations in particular. So the -- but the law and the access to divorce and the fact that women now can get out of a marriage just as much as a man can, that seems to be working very smoothly and making a big difference in women's lives. The principle of the matrimonial guardian was dropped and the bride now had to attend her own marriage ceremony and give her verbal consent for the marriage to be legally valid. I think that the magnitude of the reforms introduced by the Code of Personal Status is made clearer in the context of the legislation adopted in the same time period by other countries in the Islamic Middle East. So let us travel to a few other countries for a few minutes to place the Code in some kind of context. No other Islamic and Arab country had anything that resembled the Code of Personal Status in the 1950s. The only Islamic, but not Arab, country of the Middle East that had a similar family legislation was Turkey, as a result of the reforms made by Ataturk in the 1920s, when Turkey adopted the Swiss Civil Code and altogether abandoned Islamic law. There is a very, very important difference, however, between what happened in Turkey and what happened in Tunisia, and we can take this up, if you wish, in the discussion period. But I want to suggest to you that the way that those reforms were made in the 1920s in Turkey as a rejection of Islam and Islamic law and the way they were made in Tunisia in the 1950s as reforms under the umbrella of Islam has great implications for what has happened to women actually in practice in both countries, and for the fact that the Tunisian reforms seem to stick through history, so to speak. They are pervading the social fabric in ways that my colleagues from Turkey tell me that the law -- the reforms in Turkey have not. So there are very significant differences. The Tunisian government of 1956 clearly described the reforms as Islamic in nature. Members of the government presented the Code as the outcome of a new phase in Islamic thinking, [ unintelligible ] , similar to earlier phases of interpretation that have marked the history of Islamic legal thought. And this is, again, in contrast with the reforms made in Turkey where the government of Ataturk simply took the Swiss Civil Code, adapted it and declared it as a rejection of Islam. I have been trying to compare the two countries, and I just discovered that apparently Ataturk made a speech of about 22 hours when they promulgated the Swiss Civil Code. I will not be as long, you can believe me. So in Tunisia, the policymakers emphasized the continuing faithfulness of the law to the Islamic heritage. The two countries, however, that share similarities with Tunisia most clearly in the 1950s were its neighbors, Morocco and Algeria. And, and you know the similarities also, that they all went through a period of French colonization, they achieved independence roughly during the same time period, and so on. Despite that, the policies on family law were drastically different in the three countries. Morocco remained most faithful to the prevailing Maliki legislation when it adopted its own Code of Personal Status in 1957, '58. The Moroccan code essentially reiterated Maliki family law, which was in existence before 1957. It presented it in a more concise and codified manner. A friend of mine talks about how Moroccan law became Napoleonic, taking the Napoleon way of organizing legal text and plopping it onto Maliki law. Changes in divorce and polygamy in Morocco did not occur until 2004, when Morocco introduced reforms in family law. Algeria, as you may or may not know, experienced a period of gridlock from the time of independence in '62 until '84, and then in the -- in the end chose a conservative law in 1984. Coming back to Tunisia now, since 1956 the Code of Personal Status has remained very much alive in Tunisian society. There have been mass media campaigns since 1956 on television, the radio, newspapers, and so on, about the code. Women's associations, women's rights advocates, women lawyer, members of the government, all parts of society have, in fact, contributed to disseminating knowledge about the new law. This is no obscure text hidden in dusty law books. Every lawyer knows about it, as does every judge, public notary, and educated person. Even women who are illiterate who were interviewed know that there is a law that protects them, even though they don't know every detail. It's very interesting that I picked the same quote as our earlier speaker did about President Ben Ali in 1988 talking about the Code, and so I will not repeat it, just the first part of it, when he said that the Code of Personal Status is a gain to which we attach great importance and which we will continue to uphold. Amendments, as have been described, have been made to expand women's rights ever since that period. I just want to mention to you a couple of reforms that were made in the early '90s, because I see them as very significant for the constitution of family units and the position of women and the definition of citizenship. I think that they began presenting a sort of revolution of the mind, a shift in the way we look at things. Those amendments were passed in 1993. At the symbolic level, the Code removed the clause according to which a wife had to obey her husband. That is very significant. But in addition to that, those reforms did two things that I think are really very, very basic to the organization of the social fabric, of the social order. One, it changed the rules about custody of children. It made it now possible for a mother to have custody but also to have guardianship. Custody has to do with day-to-day care of your children. Guardianship has to do with the legal decisions you make about them, what school they go to, whether they can have a passport, whether they can travel abroad and so on. Before 1993, even though when the mother had custody, the father had guardianship. So, the child was in fact divided between the mother taking care of him or her daily and then the father having the prerogative to make those binding legal decisions. The reforms of 1983 bring the two together, custody and guardianship, and give it to the mother if the judge decides that's in the best interest of the child. So it really empowers mothers to be fully responsible for their children. Another very, very big reform in 1993, which I think one of our speakers mentioned, had to do with citizenship. And again, here, even though on the surface it might look like, okay, it is just changing little something on paper, I think it's actually making a sea change in the definition of what the citizen is, in particular, how women become citizens in the nation state. And this is what our speaker talked about, which is a law that allows women to pass citizenship to their children regardless of who the father is. Until that point, citizenship in Tunisia was very much conceptualized in the framework of Islamic law, which is that citizen is given by blood, but it's the blood of the father that matters. Since '93, all of a sudden the blood of a mother has as much value to pass citizenship to a child as the blood of a father. To me, this is a sea change. This is very big deal. This is a big-ticket item, because it is actually making women a source of Tunisian citizenship, women in their own right. So what this is doing is calling into question previous conceptions of citizenship, and making women equal citizens in the nation-state through their blood, so this is as significant as one can get. I have a theory about the passage, the promulgation of the Code of 1956. But I think that in the -- for the sake of time, I will not present it right now. We can talk about it in the discussion if time permits, but my theory has something to do -- so that you know a little bit what it's about. I mean, I spent 140,000 words developing it, so I will just very briefly summarize it. But to me, what happened in Tunisia is a historical phenomenon of great significance. It started in 1956 and it has continued today. And to explain it, I propose that we do a sociological analysis of the law and that we see who actually was benefiting from Islamic law as it was before 1956, and what kind of society and what kind of family structure was -- was enshrined in the law. And what -- when a lot of people in my contacts in American universities and elsewhere are always, always, always talking about the Middle East as being unique, you will excuse the term, because of Islam, I suggest that another way that might be more promising in order for us to understand what happened at different times, another way to look at the region is not only in terms of religion but it is really also in term of what I call kinship, kin based solidarities, the place of extended families, of patralineages [ spelled phonetically ] for our friends who were at [ unintelligible ] meetings, what [ unintelligible ] called [ unintelligible ] , the sense of group solidarity. And my theory is that the law as it was there before kind of enshrines those group solidarities. And for historical reasons, our country was spared the influence of such phenomena in -- and for reasons that are complex and we may or may not get into. So in conclusion, I just want to suggest that Tunisia was fortunate. We are all fortunate that Tunisia was fortunate to be free of passionate, exclusive kinship and tribal loyalties that have stood in the way of national unity in other parts of the Middle East and North Africa. We have had national unity for a long time, and that is a gift of history. What Tunisia has done represents an achievement which stands as a model for much of the region. A momentum was generated with the promulgation of the Code of Personal Status in regard to women's place in society, and the momentum is continuing to this day. The Code of Personal Status, which we celebrate today, is a testimony to the diversity of interpretations possible under the umbrella of Islamic law. Women's status in Tunisia is a key asset for all of us, all of us, who want to reconcile Islamic traditions with the modern world. Women in Tunisia help us counteract images of women as passive, secluded, ghost-like figures that we have seen so often in the media. They show instead women as active participants in the forging of the future. Thank you very much. [ applause ] Deanna Marcum: We thank all of the speakers for their very informative and deeply moving remarks, thank you so much for the contributions you have made to this symposium. I want to welcome now to the podium Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. She's been a very good friend to the Library of Congress, and for that we are grateful. But for society, she has been a dedicated public servant and she has been a role model for women all over the world. Justice O'Connor was nominated as the first woman on the Supreme Court by President Ronald Reagan in 1981. She served until recently. She announced in July 2005 that she would step down and continued to serve until January 2006, when Justice Alito was named. Justice O'Connor remains active in all kinds of work around the country and the world. She's tackling some of societies most pressing problems and for that we are grateful, too. She has written a great deal about law and jurisprudence, but if you want to read a really wonderful book, I suggest Lazy B: Growing Up on a Cattle Ranch in the American Southwest, an autobiographical story that I think you will find inspirational and very entertaining. So Justice O'Connor, we welcome you to the Library. [ applause ] Justice Sandra Day O'Connor: Thank you so much, and Ambassador Hachana, and our wonderful speakers today and guests from Tunisia and friends of Tunisia. I am so glad to be here. I apologize very much to all of you that I had to arrive late. I did have an appointment today with a Senate leader that I thought was important that I keep, because we're undergoing a few analyses of our situation these days in Iraq, and so things are getting sort of hectic. [ applause ] But I am truly happy to be here. I have followed Tunisia's progress, insofar as women are concerned, for some years now. And I was so lucky, I don't know maybe 15 years or so ago, to become acquainted with Tunisia's ambassador to the United States at that time, and through him met other people from the country and from the region. And through a succeeding ambassador, became involved with a group of Tunisian women who came, and we had a little meeting, not as large as this, but similar, over at the Supreme Court one year and we talked about the progress of women in Tunisia. And I think that was before the passage of this Code that you celebrate today. Things were still getting much better in Tunisia than they were in other countries in the region insofar as women were concerned, and maybe that's due to the history of Tunisia that Professor Charrad spoke about. I would like to know more about that, how you avoided the tribal allegiances that made it more difficult for women to progress. But in any event, I became increasingly aware of the progress that Tunisia was making in a region where women did not have a lot of opportunity, and I could see that they were beginning to have considerable opportunity in Tunisia. Privileges of voting and of holding public office were extended to women, and there was really progress made. And now we listen to some of the figures this afternoon and the percentages of women in legislative bodies and in the professions are not dissimilar from the percentages in the United States. It's quite interesting. And Tunisia has really provided a model for other countries in the region that are Islamic, and where opportunities for women are slowly emerging, and I'm just delighted to hear what's continued to happen in Tunisia, and so successfully. I mean, that's great. It really is. Female Speaker: Thank you. Justice Sandra Day O'Connor: And I think every woman in this room is happy to hear about that. And I was amused by one statement this afternoon, I heard about how -- was it you who were working full time, you wanted to work part time? Female Speaker: [ Inaudible ] . Justice Sandra Day O'Connor: Yeah. And you made a deal to work two-thirds of the time for half the pay. And now that's kind of enshrined in policy. And it's so interesting to me because when I was first employed in the Attorney General's office in the State of Arizona, my home state, and I had to work full time to get that job and I was so happy to have the job, I loved it, it was great, but I had three children and I really needed to work part time, not full time, but none of the public offices would let people work half time in those days. And that was the deal I made. Look, I tried to become indispensable, first of all, so that they couldn't live without me, and then I said, "Okay, I'll work half the time for two-thirds of the pay," and that was the very deal that the struck in the State of Arizona back in the 1970s. So I was amused by hearing how we women make our way these days and the manner in which we do it. But I'm -- I'm so happy that you're here and that you're able to tell us about what you've done. I don't know how long this question and answer session is going to go on, but I'm curious to know how Tunisia's new Code compares with that which was passed in Morocco more recently, because women in Morocco are certainly pleased to have the changes made there, which point in the same direction as yours, but I don't know what the differences might be. In any event, we, we live in such challenging times these days. We're -- we're at a time of tension in the region in which Tunisia is, in the Middle East and North Africa, and to talk about the United States or America there is not a very popular thing to do these days. In fact, it's a setback. And that's another reason why I'm so glad that you chose to come here to the United States and make the presentation today, because our nations are friends, and Tunisia was certainly the first country in that region to recognize the United States after the Revolution, and I'm so glad we're still friends. We need you. And we're happy to be friends with Tunisia. And I'm just full of admiration for the progress that Tunisia has made, and certainly in the area of opportunities for women. And I appreciate the chance to be here to celebrate with you the passage of the Code about which the presentations have been made today. And I'd like to thank the Ambassador for encouraging this, and the Library of Congress for putting it together in this beautiful room. The Library of Congress has also been a great friend to all of us in government in this country, and I think to others around the world. It houses much of our knowledge right here. We're sitting amongst the books. And for that, we thank you and very pleased to be here. [ applause ] [ end of transcript ]