Under the Auspices of her Excellency Mrs Leila Ben Ali Wife of His Excellency the President of the Republic And on the occasion of the celebration of the international women’s day UNFT & SAWID organize a conference Tunis, March 8th, 2007

Click here to download pdf version

Program and communications

I. Foreword

The strengthening of the social, economic and political rights of the Tunisian woman and the consolidation of its place within the family and the society, consequence of a firm political good-will which marked the new era by a process of total and major reforms in all the fields, made the woman, the partner of the man with equal rights and both active actors in the development process of Tunisia.

Having shown determination, aptitude to acquire the highest qualifications at work, strong capacity to assume responsibilities in all fields, women are facing now new opportunities making them fully involved in the social and economic development of the country. They have to conquer new positions; such chance is confirmed by President Ben Ali who fixed, in its electoral program "For Tunisia of tomorrow", the percentage of women at decision levels to 30% in 2009.

South Africa (SAWID)

50 years since the historic march of 20 000 women to the Union Buildings to protest repressive Apartheid legislation especially as it affected women and 13 years since the end of the Apartheid regime in 1994, South African women are now celebrating the gains made by our democratic government in providing legal, institutional, and political liberation, and progress made in socio-economic and cultural development. In this regard, they also celebrate the steps taken by government in promoting peace and security in our country and continent.

There is deep concern, however, that women continue to experience inequalities in our society, a situation that requires that women themselves continue to find new solutions. They need to strengthen the South African Women’s movement; to beef up the state machinery for gender equality and development as well as ensure that legislative provisions so far gained are entrenched. SAWID is committed to provide a platform for diverse women to work through their historic divisions, and to confront their current challenges especially in addressing poverty, disease, violence against women and children and all other forms and consequences of marginalization.

Recognizing the complimentarity of UNFT and SAWID, the two organizations welcomed an opportunity to jointly celebrate the coincidence of 50 years since the Pretoria Women’s march and 50 years since the acceptance of the Tunisia Personal Code which legislated for equality between men and women within the family and society.

TUNISIA: UNFT

The UNFT, a non-governmental organization created in 1956, work on promoting the role of women in all the fields. One of its main objectives today, is to make sure that women are fully involved in the knowledge society and have the right of exercising their citizenship. By mastering knowledge, innovative ideas will show up, and entrepreneurial culture will spread among women bringing with it economic and social progress.

II. Context

Celebrating the International Women’s day on March 8th, the National Union of the Tunisian Women (UNFT) and South African Women in Dialogue (SAWID) organize a conference on:
“Women, Peace and Prosperity"
it will be held at Hotel El Mouradi Gammarth, 5*, Tunis, on March 8th, 2007.

This meeting will bring together active actors in the field of legislation, active life and information technologies. 21 women from South Africa will attend this conference.
Participants will exchange experiences and analyze in depth the challenges facing women such as career development, full involvement in public life and access to ICT especially after the recommendations of WSIS.

III. Objectives of the conference

• To Exchange best practices and success stories related to regulation, active life involvement among women. (The case of Tunisia and South Africa)

• To raise awareness of the urgent need to have a global equity in legislation addressing women’s affairs

• To raise awareness that contribution to economic development and innovation is impossible if women are discriminated against.

• To identify the obstacles that women may encounter when getting into leadership and decision making positions.

IV. Expected Results

These debates aim to:
• Raise practical recommendations that could be followed up in the second conference which will be held in South Africa.
• Implement the axis of possible exchanges and partnership between the two NGOs for the benefit of women and the societies: Women vectors of peace & well-being.

V. Conference Topics:

The conference will start on March 8th by an inaugural speech which will introduce the framework of the conferences registered into the program. After the opening ceremony, three sessions will take place.

• The First session: Women & Legislation.
The promotion of women’s rights, the promulgation of laws and actions undertaken in order to change mentalities and behaviors is a common subjects. This session will focus on the continuous reform trends undertaken in the case of Tunisia. It will outline how the Code of Personal Status and all the laws related to health, birth care, education, job equity, employment code.... ended with a modern outstanding legislation that respects values, culture and identity.
Participants will work on how to adapt this regulation to other countries, especially South Africa.

The second session: Digital divide versus Women’s Role in a Knowledge Economy.
This session will outline the state of the issues related to the degree of mastering ICT by women, their involvement in capacity building as well as the issue of universal access and impact on economy. Information technologies brought flexibility and facility for any one to contribute from his position to community development.
Women are able to take part in this development and to benefit from it, mainly because they are well represented in the sectors such as education, health sector, finances, the insurances and other sales departments as well as industries with low intensity in ICT like the textile and the agro-alimentary one where the intensity of the ICT did not reach yet its maximum level. The challenge will be to assist women in these sectors introducing ICT and bringing innovative process to these areas. Besides, challenges and strategies in projects like distance working, incubators and e-trade and e-commerce will be analyzed and discussed. These represent new opportunities for women to perform their entrepreneurship skills and capacity.
A particular focus will be on what has been brought so far after WSIS recommendations.

The third session: Women’s participation in public life: Progress and challenges.
In today’s world no one can ignore the role of women in building an economic based society. What are the trends and the reality in the active life? How effective were the quota system in getting more women into the track? What are the barriers: cultural, education, leadership.... The debate during this session will outline approaches to strengthen women’s participation in public life. It will also outline approaches to strengthen women’s participation in public life (role models will talk about their success stories).

VI. Participants

The conference will gather 60 participants among them 21 representatives from SAWID, South Africa.

VII. Documentation

Key reports and background documents for the conference will be posted on the website as they are available. All the materials pertinent to the three sessions will be given to participants upon their arrival.

VIII. Translation

Translation to English and Arabic will be available.