“While considering that the society with all its components assumes a major responsibility in the defence 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 Tunisia’s position, reinforce its invulnerability and secure the continuation of its comprehensive development process.

Best wishes to Tunisian women”

On the occasion of the celebration of World Women’s Day, President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali sent the following message to Mrs Aziza H’tira, the president of the National Union of Tunisian Women (UNFT), March7, 2008

“ The Congress constitutes an opportunity to assess the activity of the unft this organisation to which we accord a particular care and a constant support and whose work programs we are keen on further stimulating . In deed the UNFT enjoys a prestigious position within the civil society fabric and assumes an avant-garde role in promoting women’s potentialities and meeting the challenges of comprehensive development…

The UNFT this prestigious organisation which has assumed an important role in stimulating the progression of Tunisian women and in making women akey partner in the action of reform is called upon today to further develop its methods of action in accordance with the specificities of this period which require intensive work at the theoretical and practical levels…”

« Equality between men and women is one of the tenets of the Change. This is indeed what we strive to translate into fact and to materialize in enterprises as well as in public life, so much so that in our country, Tunisian women have today reached the place they deserve.»

« The family is the basic nucleus of the social fabric. For that reason, we have provided it with our full care and protection, through the various legislative reforms we have introduced in this respect, so that its members would assume their respective roles within a strong cohesion and a civilized behavior deeply rooted in our culture.
Our steadfast choices in favor of women do constitute, in fact, a constant consolidation of the family, since we have enabled Tunisian women to enjoy full dignity and equality with men both de jure and de facto.
Tunisian women today, thanks to their elevated status and their deep awareness, provide a strong support for the Change and the preparation for the future».

For the pride of Tunisian women, we need only to mention in this regard one particularly meaningful indicator, as it shows most clearly the perspectives that lie open before them: I mean the proportion of girls in the total number of students in higher education, 52% this year while it was no more than one third in 1987. This is a percentage that consolidated the desired balance in the makeup of the labor force and the equal participation of women and men in production and in the development effort.
This comes in addition to the assistance and solicitude bestowed on the Tunisian family to preserve its interests and its cohesion, for it to be the true central cell in the social fabric.

Speech by President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali
on the 14th anniversary of the Change
Le Kram, November 7th, 2001

Reinforcing women's rights and enhancing their dignity and gains are among our central options. We have constantly endeavored to open the gates of opportunity before them, so that they may have an active presence in all political, social, or economic spheres. Women today hold some of the most prominent positions in our society. Tunisian women have shown that they were worthy of this confidence; they have proved their competence and capability in all the responsibilities they have undertaken and all the positions they have occupied, in every field of specialization.
We are all the more proud of Tunisian women as we observe their increasing education and skills, their capabilities and initiatives in entering new areas in the economic sphere, as investors, producers, exporters, and business women.

Today, Tunisian women are no longer just defending their gains and their basic rights; they are now effective partners of men in all development fields; they are competent partners for building the future.

“… The national Tunisian union of women also managed to make a move in its activities thanks to the development of its programs and the enrichment of its means of information and supervising. And we were always eager to give it our support and encouragement and to push its militants to persevere because we were always sure that this national organisation is an essential component of the civil society. It also represents the continuity between the social and reform movements. Indeed, it is a support of the program of civilisation that we are preparing for the coming generations..”

« The essential place we have given the woman in our civilizational and political plan, and our constant desire to consolidate it, stem from the firm conviction and unshakable belief that there is no future and no progress without the woman's participation. For this reason, we have made of the continued preservation, consolidation and promotion of her gains constant values of the national consensus, and considered her rights a sine qua non of human rights.
We have endeavored to put these principles into practice within the framework of an integrated development approach which takes into account the organic links among economic, social and cultural factors and incorporates the woman into the development dynamic. All this is reflected in the legislation and mechanisms we have instituted, which have strengthened the position of the woman both in the family and in public life and established her protection against all forms of discrimination».

Speech by President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali
August 13, 1999

The men and women of Tunisia are unanimous in supporting the main goals of the process we set in motion over eleven years ago. This is illustrated concretely today in the relations of dialogue that exist between management and labor, in the framework of contractual policy and the traditions of concerted effort we have instituted. This is what has enabled us to raise wages and improve working conditions and welfare benefits without interruption since the Change, and to consolidate social peace, cooperation and solidarity among every category of society and every region».

Speech by President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali
February 11, 1999

« One of the first initiatives we took on the day that we took our people's destiny in hand was to reaffirm our attachment to the Code of Personal Status and our faithfulness to the aspirations of Tunisian women to occupy the position they merit within society. In doing so we have dissipated all misunderstanding, at a time when uncertainty and confusion were arising in the minds of some. We also cut short the expectations of those who were nostalgic for a distant past with which out people has in reality broken forever».

Speech by President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali
August 10 1995