President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali sends message to the president of the National Union of Tunisian Women (UNFT) :

“On the occasion of the celebration of World Women’s Day in Tunisia, similarly in all international community member countries, it is my pleasure to extend to you, to UNFT members and to all the Tunisian women wherever they be, at home or abroad, our great satisfaction for the privileged position enjoyed by women in our country.

We also express great pride at major role played by women within the family and society and their increasing presence in the different sectors of work and activities.

After ridding herself for good of any form of inferiority and discrimination and confirming that she fully deserves the decisions and initiatives we have taken for her benefit and the prospects we have opened up for her, the Tunisian woman has actively supported the civilisational project of the change, by managing to assume responsibilities and to practice activities that were, up to a recent time, exclusively destined to men, thus becoming full partners of men, in rights as well as in duties, and a decisive force in boosting the process of development and progress.

As they celebrate today this international day, Tunisian women are entitled to be proud of the gains and achievements carried out for their benefit and of the steps they made on the way to modernity and development, which has reinforced their position at the regional to follow in their civilisational environment.

We are convinced that Tunisian women, who are fully aware of the importance of these gains and of the nature of the stakes of the current stage, are determined to fulfil their vital role in the establishment of the society of moderation and balance, in the protection and increase of its attributes and in preserving it from any form regression and backwardness, out of faith in the values of abnegation and militancy and in the service of these noble national objectives.

While considering that the civil society with all its components responsibility in the defense of these values, we believe that the National Union of Tunisian Women plays a central role in preserving and defending these values so that the efforts of all can be joined to raise Tunisian’s position, reinforce its invulnerability and secure the continuation of its comprehensive development process.

Best wishes to Tunisian women”.