Tunisia’s history has just added another big achievement to the list of many.
A few weeks ago, our President appointed the Nation’s First Female Prime Minister.
Her name is Najla Bouden and she is a woman to be celebrated not only by Tunisia but by people in the MENA region as a whole as she is also the first in the Arab world to hold such a high position.
“For the first time in Tunisia’s history, a woman will head the country as prime minister.
We will work together in the near future, armed with the stable and constant determination to combat the corruption and state of chaos that has been witnessed throughout the country in several government institutions,” said President Saied in a video posted to the presidency’s Facebook page introducing our new prime minister.
This presents a big win for Tunisian women and an inspiration to us all, for a woman to finally have a powerful role in the country’s decision-making and an opportunity to change the narrative in a man-dominated system and patriarchy. It feels like we have an advocate and ally that understands us.
No one had envisaged that our conservative politician of a President Kais Saied who’s outspoken against the LBGTQI+ community, human rights, or youth rights and opposed to the equality of inheritance between men and women, could appoint a woman to this post either, which was very shocking but yet a wonderful step for Arab women.
So a few questions are raised, who is our new Prime Minister exactly, and can she be the change that our country strives for and wants?
Najla Bouden Romdhane is 63 years old from the governorate of Kairouan, which is in the center of the country, which gives her provincial roots. She is a graduate of the prestigious Ecole des Mines de Paris, this discreet-looking scientist is a professor at the National Engineering School of Tunis (ENIT) specializing in geosciences making her a doctor of geology.
She has worked as a project manager and then director at the Ministry of Higher Education. She has served as director-general in charge of quality, and head of the Purpose Action Unit at the Higher Education Ministry. And now upon her appointment, she will leave her current project of running World Bank programs at the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research to dedicate herself to forming a government.
We only had two statements from her on her Twitter account, which reads the following
“I am honored to be the first woman to hold the position of prime minister in Tunisia. I will work to form a coherent government to face the country’s economic difficulties, fight corruption, and respond to the demands of Tunisians regarding their natural rights to transport, health, and education.”
This sounds promising as corruption according to Tunisians is the 3rd important issue that we face behind unemployment and economical political instability.
Najla Bouden is Tunisia’s 10th prime minister since the 2011 uprising. She gives a new image to politics as a personality of the academic world, but without being a known economist who is most hated by the population.
She is an outsider to the political world nor a representative of civil society or an association or union activist which makes us wonder she will be able to handle her future tasks and be the voice of empowerment and change that we must seek and also to abolish the old degraded image of Tunisian politicians who kept mismanaging the country for months and also by fighting within the Assembly, exchanges of insults and even beatings.
According to the Webmanager Center, former Minister of Higher Education Chiheb Bouden described her as “hardworking, honest and methodical, ensuring that she could work 13 to 16 hours a day,” which shows how resilient she is.
Developments came on Monday when our new PM appointed the new government, 11 weeks after the presidential power grab where the previous prime minister Hichem Mechichi was fired and the parliament suspended.
The United States State Department spokesman Ned Price showed his support to the new government through reporters on Tuesday saying “The new government, which includes 10 female ministers, is a welcome step forwards towards addressing the significant economic, health, and social challenges facing the country,”. He continued with, “We look forward to furthering announcements to establish a broadly inclusive process for a rapid return to constitutional order”.
The new administration has 10 women in total (double of what it was before) out of a 24-member government that is set to tackle the crisis the country is facing.
The list is as follows: Siham Boughdiri, Finance Minister, Fadhila Rebhi Ben Hamedah, Commerce Minister, Leila Chikhaoui, Environment Minister, Sarra Zaafrani Zanzri, Minister of Equipment, Hayet Ketata Guermazi, Minister of Culture, Amel Bel Hadi, Minister of Women, Leila Jafaal, Justice Minister and Ayda Hamdi, State Secretary for Foreign Affairs.
The new members of the cabinet have high ministerial profiles thus being labeled as academic with many of them coming from teaching posts at universities while others are technocrats, who’ve been working as civil servants within the ministries that they are now heading and some are lawyers and judges.
This very much reflects the same background as the president himself Saeid, who is originally a constitutional expert that taught for many years at university before running for the presidency in 2019.
We have the Minister of Culture owns a Ph.D. in History and Anthropology, the Environment Minister is a former professor of Public Law and has been teaching since 2013, Minister of Telecommunications Nizar Ben Naji has a Ph.D. in Information Technology, Minister of Youth Dr. Kamal Dakeesh is a professor and a lawyer and so is Defense Minister Imad Dmeish who is also a law professor. As well as, three of the appointed professors were colleagues of the president in the university which means he is among friends, most likely people he trusts and believes are skilled enough to help him run the country.
Following the naming of the new cabinet, our newly appointed prime minister has announced that the new government will be committed to improving government services, citizens’ living conditions, and restoring the international community’s confidence in Tunisia.
Could Najla Bouden become the symbol of women’s progress and empowerment in Tunisia and the Middle East alongside the new government of academia? Will they succeed in facing the social and economical challenges confronting our country?
They have yet to set an economical agenda to fight the soaring unemployment rate and the consequences led by the Covid-19 pandemic through negotiations with the World Bank and IMF to obtain around $4 billion to get through this crisis.
We really are hopeful and proud of this historical moment but needless to say that we will stay alert to future actions to make sure that she’s being manipulated due to her lack of political involvement.
As it all sounds very promising, we can’t wait to see what concrete plans they will elaborate for the future of this country, and can only wish them good luck. But in the meantime, we rejoice at the news of an Arab woman being appointed Prime Minister and we’ll keep a close watch on her future decisions.
Article was written for Studentmag.tn
