Judging Women’s Rights, Gender & Citizenship in Ben Ali’s Tunisia

Sarah Grosso, PhD (LSE, 2014), teaches at Webster University. A counsellor and consultant, she has worked for international organisations including UNICEF, UNESCO and the ICRC. Sarah has published articles and book chapters on Tunisia, women’s rights, gender and anthropology.

• AcknowledgementsPart 1: Dark and Light1 Prologue: Engendering Change1 La vie en mauve: Documenting Women’s Rights in the Time of Ben Ali2 Encounters: Judging CitizenshipInterlude: the Bourguiba Institute of Modern Languages, April 20073 Law Lessons: Judging the LawInterlude: Ministry of Statistics, May 2007Interlude: Before and After: Marriage and Divorce4 Before and After1 Tradition or Innovation?Interlude: Judging Divorce5 Gendered Judgement1 Ambiguous Spaces2 Extraordinary EthicsInterlude: Seeing beyond the Veil6 Dislocation: Where Judging Begins1 Dislocated Selves2 Dislocated Places: Fields3 Dislocated Judgement4 Dislocated Morals7 Listening to Silences1 Encounters2 Connections3 Listening to Silences4 Anthropologist or Spy?5 Encounters in the Fields6 Vulnerable LivesPart 2: FamilyInterlude: Knowing Whom to Trust8 Becoming1 The Safety Pin2 Seeing the Invisible3 Performing Identity9 Creating Homes10 Creating Friends1 No Return11 Marriage Is like a Watermelon1 Consent12 Creating Marriage1 Mother and Daughter: Marriage across Two Generations13 Good Wife; Ideal Husband1 Good Wives2 Ideal HusbandsInterlude: Finding the Ideal Husband?14 Sex and the City15 Making a Living1 Shrinking Families2 Increasing Living CostsInterlude: the Hunter and Rim (Part 1)16 Woman’s Work1 Real v Ideal2 Dislocated MarriagesInterlude: ReciprocityInterlude: the Unthinkable17 Breaking Marriage: Those Who Can(not) Divorce1 Those Who Did Not Divorce2 The Stigma of DivorcePart 3: LawInterlude: in Between18 Court House1 Setting the Scene2 Outside In19 Inside Out: the Court Office1 The Court Staff2 From Morouj to the Court: the Story of Karima3 On Marriage and Motherhood4 ‘Family Atmosphere’ and Neighbourhood Spirit5 Attitudes to DivorceInterlude: Judge and Justice20 From Both Sides: Encountering the State1 Navigating Legal Territories2 Judging Ideal Husbands and Wives21 Under the Spotlight: Public HearingsInterlude: the Hunter and Rim (Part 2)22 Seeing Like a Court23 Behind the Scenes1 Reconciliation?2 Reconciliation Sessions: the Legal Framework3 Defining ‘Harm’24 Reconciliation as Theatre1 The Reconciliation Judge: ‘I Must Make Them Feel I Am Not Judging Them’2 Suspicion and Sympathy3 Deconstructing the Ideal Husband4 Deconstructing the Good WifeInterlude: Maktoub (1)25 Stepping Out of the Page26 A File Is Born1 Making Files2 Making Evidence3 Proof of ‘Harm’27 Maktoub: Documenting Divorce for Harm1 Litigant Strategies2 Documenting Bad Husbands: Not Maintaining the Family3 Documenting Bad Wives: Leaving the Marital Home4 A Tale of Two Contrasting Cases5 Listening to Evidence28 Maktoub: Poetic Justice in Divorce without Grounds1 Customized Arguments2 Writing Good Husbands and Wives29 The Cost of Divorce1 Battles for Compensation2 Writing Morality and Legitimacy30 Dislocated Families1 The Real Cost of Divorce2 Gendering Parental Duties: the Legal Framework31 Making ‘Bad’ Mothers1 Absent Mothers2 Unfit Mothers3 (The Loss of) Custody as a Cost of Divorce4 Interest of the Child32 Politics and Patriline1 Breaking FamiliesPart 4: Judging Women’s Rights33 Towards a Relational Reading of Women’s Rights1 Women’s Rights; Men’s Wrongs2 Recreating Gender and Citizenship3 Relational Rights: Family Law Begins at Home4 Performing Citizenship5 Smoke and Mirrors: Judging Women’s RightsAfterword: Available Light34 Reflections on Women’s Rights in Post-revolutionary Tunisia and Beyond1 Safeguarding the PSC2 ‘Same, Same, but Different’: Defining Gender Equality3 Reforming Gender since the 2011 RevolutionInterlude: The Two Hajj4 Seeking Authenticity: the ‘Real’ Tunisia?5 Inspiration: Transposing Women’s Rights6 Listening to Men7 Finding Light in Dark Places: Reading Women’s Rights8 Glimmers: the Joys of FatherhoodBibliography