Women's Day

Tunisian National Women's Day commemorates the promulgation of the Personal Status Code on August 13, 1956. The code prohibited polygamy, required judicial divorce and reformed marriage and family law soon after independence. It became a major reference point in Tunisia's state-building and women's-rights history, while later laws and amendments continued to change its provisions.

The anniversary should not be reduced to a claim that equality was completed in 1956. Tunisian advocates continue to debate implementation, economic participation, violence, inheritance and unequal lived outcomes. The seventieth-anniversary discussions in 2026 explicitly paired recognition of legal gains with assessment of remaining gaps, showing why the day is both commemoration and civic scrutiny.

The decree grants one public-sector leave day every August 13; private-sector entitlement depends on its governing instrument. Presidential Decree No. 2021-223 grants holiday leave to personnel of the State, local authorities and administrative public institutions; its wording is not a blanket rule for every private workplace. Labour Code articles 107-110 provide that paid non-working holidays in private employment are fixed by decree or collective agreements, protect covered pay and add an equal indemnity where an employee in a non-stoppable activity works the holiday. Employees must therefore check the rule or collective agreement governing their sector. Neither cited text creates a general next-working-day substitute when a holiday falls on Saturday or Sunday.