Introduction

Abstract

It is a fact today that women’s conditions in North Africa have undergone rapid changes in the last decade. However, these changes are held hostage by a religious conservative and largely patriarchal tradition masquerading as cultural specificity. Therefore, the impact of the new laws and constitutional provisions on women’s everyday lives is rendered insignificant by a conservative approach in their implementation that finds justification in a strong sense of resistance to what is perceived as a “westernization” of society. The discourse of equality between men and women became thus equated with corrupt “westernized” regimes and a very privileged elite seen as disconnected with popular concerns. Indeed, where unemployment of the youth soared in the MENA region in 2013 (29% in North Africa according to the International Labour Organization), the debate over women’s rights was not a priority for the regimes and larger (conservative) sections of society. The challenge then was and still is to bring to the forefront the questions of equality between men and women while people seemed plunged in despair and lack of opportunity for men and women alike.