Authors

Discussion

This talk will discuss the necessity for a cross-regional comparison of women’s rights and gender policy reforms in Tunisia and Ukraine since their respective popular revolutions of 2011 and 2014. While the two appear culturally, socially, and politically different on paper, Tunisia and Ukraine share vast similarities in their historical and recent state-building, as well as their approach to women’s rights. Thus, as both states transition to a more democratic order and battle with economic and political instability, gender issues have also become a top priority in political rhetoric, with rapid substantial change being enacted. Using a Comparative Area Studies approach, I trace four public policy changes: introduction of gender quotas, laws condemning violence against women, Ukraine’s military reform, and Tunisia’s inheritance law reform. It could be assumed that pressure from external actors, such as the EU and the UN, have led to these accelerated shifts, since both states are known to cooperate closely with, and appease, their foreign supporters. Yet I argue that it is the increase in female political representation in the post-revolutionary period that provided necessary space and opportunity for women to demand more extensive rights in politics and society. Overall, with this non-western comparative investigation, I aim to illustrate trends that may be different to gender policy transformations in consolidates western democracies.