Nearly a decade after the Arab Spring, could an anonymous video and a social movement in Tunisia spark a similar reckoning over women's rights? A two-story-high banner hangs over the lavish Avenue Habib Bourguiba, boasting “Tunis Capital of Arab Woman” in three languages, but the story on the street — Tunisia’s most famous — is very different. Walking the palm tree–lined boulevard between a sprawling open-air market and a Catholic cathedral, local women speak candidly about the sexual harassment they face every day. “It’s common, and often you can’t do anything,” says one woman, Hamrouni Mariem. They encounter the problem on public transit, in businesses, whether they are alone or with family or friends, adds Amani, a law student who asked we not share her last name for fear of reprisal. “You can’t classify the harassers. It ranges from the well-educated to the less educated, the poor, rich, whether in private companies or government administrations,” she says. The good news? Women are organizing and speaking up in droves, with thousands telling their own stories of harassment through the social media campaign #EnaZeda, the Tunisian dialect version of #MeToo. |