Tunisia

Najla Bouden Ramadhane, a university engineer with World Bank experience, has been lifted from political obscurity to become Tunisia's — and the Arab world's — first female prime minister.

Tunisian-born French lawyer Gisele Halimi, who devoted her life to the feminist cause and was instrumental in winning the decriminalisation of abortion in France, died Tuesday aged 93, her family told AFP.

The Arab Spring began ten years ago this December when a Tunisian fruit vendor set himself on fire to protest police harassment and corruption under the North African country’s autocratic regime. After toppling governments across the region, the popular uprising has a mixed record. Some countries remain mired in violence and have little social, economic, or political progress to show for their efforts a decade later. In some countries, strongarm rulers remain in power.

The Network of Arab Women in Elections was launched Saturday in Tunis as part of a joint initiative involving the Arab Organisation for Electoral Management Bodies (ArabEMBs), the UNDP Regional Electoral Support Project and the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA).

The preliminary report on the observation of the elections, based on gender, conducted by the Tunisian Mediterranean Centre (TUNMED), called all the candidates to take into account the right of women voters in rural and border areas to take part in election campaigns, TUNMED Director Ahlem Nessiri said on Monday.

Tunisia has long been seen as a pioneer for women's rights in the Arab world, but on the eve of presidential elections, women are calling this reputation into question.

"Men promise a lot to women. But when Mr Moustache arrives in power, nothing happens," said Feryel Charfeddine, head of Calam, an association fighting violence against women.